Everyone Loves Shopping
by demonprosecutor
Summary: Two shopping sprees, seven years apart, set off many memories in Phoenix's mind. A trip to the past follows - MayaxPhoenix!
1. Taxi

DISCLAIMER: I'm sick of disclaimers. Write your own. You know how it goes.

"Come on, Nick! We're going shopping!"

"How does this effect me?"

"Because so are you!"

_EveryoneLovesShopping_

So somehow, Phoenix Wright found himself trailing up and down the streets, in and out of shops, round and round in circles. When they came out of a shop, the amount of bags he was carrying would undoubtedly had doubled in size, whereas his bank account would have halved. Phoenix carried everything. Phoenix paid for everything. Phoenix bought nothing. That was the way it was done.

"Why are you buying all these clothes if you only ever wear those spirit medium outfits? Isn't it a waste of money?"

"Nick, it's not about wearing the clothes, it's about owning them. Anyway, you're paying, so it doesn't matter."

"Sure, that makes sense!"

After _a lot_ of shopping, the girls allowed Phoenix to stop for a while. They found a burger restaurant and stopped for a meal. An expensive meal. Phoenix paid. More shopping succeeded.

"Hey! Look at that shop! Can you read that, Pearly? I'm sure you can!"

"It says…M-mys-mystic … Mer…mer…I can't read that word."

"It's Mystic Merchandise! A shop for spirit mediums! Come on, let's go in."

They spent what Phoenix could only describe as a _long time_ in the shop. There were magatamas, spirit medium uniforms in various colours and sizes, mysterious objects used for channelling, and everything else that a spirit medium could possibly need.

They took a taxi back as opposed the bus they had arrived in. They had too much shopping for the bus. It was a long way back and the taxi journey cost a lot, but it didn't matter because Phoenix was paying.

The journey was pretty much eventless, though the taxi-driver insisted on having the radio on. The lulling sound of an interview with some politician was lulling and soon Pearl was asleep.

"I'm sleepy too," moaned Maya, slouching over and resting her head on Phoenix's shoulder.

"Then got to sleep, Maya." She did just that.

_Everyo__neLovesShopping_

Come on, Daddy! We're going

"shopping!"

"How does this effect me?"

"Because so are you!"

_EveryoneLovesShopping_

This time Phoenix didn't mind trailing up and down the streets, in and out of shops, round and round in circles. Trucy and Vera wandered on ahead. Vera didn't by much, only a new sketch pad and some paints. She paid for and carried them herself. Trucy, however, bought roughly a whole shop. Daddy carried everything. Daddy paid for everything. Daddy bought nothing. That was the way it was done.

They must have been in a million shops before Trucy allowed them to stop for lunch. The shy Vera obviously was not enjoying herself, but was too polite to say so. Therefore she, like the now virtually bankrupt Phoenix, found herself dragging herself into every shop that her determined friend demanded on going into. The meal was cheap but of pretty good quality. The café was next to a top class burger restaurant and Trucy stared longingly out of the window at it.

"I wish we could go someplace like that. But it's really expensive, right, Daddy?"

"Yeah. I did go there once."

"Really? Wow, what was it like?"

"Expensive."

After the meal there was more shopping. By the end they were going in shops they had already been in. They could see nothing they hadn't seen before, until Phoenix spotted a certain blast from the past.

"Hey! Let's go in that one!"

"Why would we go into a shop for spirit mediums? We've never even met a spirit medium!"

"Well, maybe we will while we're in there."

They walked into the shop setting off the little bell on the door. The shop assistant, a kind-faced girl in her late teens, obviously in a Saturday job, glanced up from the till. She had brown hair tied up in a strange ponytail above her head, and she wore a light purple spirit medium uniform. Phoenix recognised her immediately. Luckily, she didn't recognise him.

"Can I help you?"

"Um…no."

He turned and ran from the shop. He called a taxi immediately, ignoring his daughter's questions. Why had he done that? He himself didn't know. Maybe he was just too scared to talk to her. He'd changed so much – what if she didn't like the new Mr. Nick?

Another interview with another politician lulled Vera to sleep within a few minutes. Trucy huddled against her Daddy.

"I'm sleepy too!"

"Then go to sleep, Maya."

"Maya? Who's Maya?"

"I didn't say Maya. I said Trucy."

"You said Maya!"

"Go to sleep, Trucy." She did just that.

Bother girls were fast asleep. Phoenix slipped a scrunched up drawing from his pocket. It was a sketch by an old friend, showing more old friends. The pastel colours had faded after the seven years, but Phoenix still carried this picture always. It had been drawn and given to him just after the trial of State vs. Iris. It had lived in his pocket ever since.

A tear rolled down his check. It had been so long ago. Seeing that shop earlier today had set off some memories, but the shop assistant had set off even more. He had last seen her as a nine year old girl. Now how old must she be? Seventeen? Eighteen? And her cousin – how old was she now? She must be in her late twenties. It was crazy to imagine.

He was torn away from his thought when the journey came to an end and he had to haggle over the price of the taxi.

_EveryoneLovesShopping_

The next morning Phoenix dropped Trucy off at Apollo's flat and got a bus to the nearest internet café. He left the café with a piece of printed paper confirming his train ticket to Kurain Village.


	2. Train

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Ace Attorney series and I did not invent the train

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Ace Attorney series and I did not invent the train. I did use to own a model train, but that is apparently irrelevant. I do not own any of these characters apart from Mildred (Yey for Mildred!) and she is stereotyped so it doesn't matter. Enjoy the chapter! :)

Phoenix Wright blended right in with the dusty, polluted, loud atmosphere of the train station. He sat on a bench beside the rails and read the newspaper, even though it was from last week and he had read it six times before. It was raining and he was getting soaked, but he didn't even consider going into the waiting room. Everyone at the station was in there, and today being Monday, that was a lot of people. On the other hand, it was very unlikely there would be anyone else but he riding on the train to Kurain Village. This only became popular during the long summer months when people would come up to the village for day trips; other than that, the trains would have stopped going had they not been the only way of travelling between the city and the village.

Another modern train sped by at top speed, stopping for mere moments to pick up its passengers. The sunlight reflected off its shiny surface into Phoenix's eyes and he shielded them with his newspaper. He wondered if the ancient clunk of metal they called a train would still be doing the run to Kurain. He had made the journey so many times before, but not once in the last seven years. What if Maya had changed? But then, she couldn't have changed as much as he. What if she didn't like the new Phoenix?

The train slowly clattered into the station – the same old train. Phoenix stood up. Bringing his newspaper and bottle of grape juice with him, he boarded the train. There was no time for _what if _'s.

_EveryoneLovesShopping_

Phoenix walked straight to the dining car. They wouldn't start serving for half an hour, but he felt it was the only worthwhile car on the whole train. The seats, like every other car, were hard and uncomfortable, but this car had tables. That made all the difference.

He put his bottle on the table as soon as he sat down and opened up the newspaper. He enjoyed re-reading newspapers – it was like a game. How many headlines can you memorise? How many statistics can you pretend to be shocked by over and over again? The fun never ended.

Half an hour later, an old and sullen-looking woman stomped through the car with a notebook. Mildred had worked on the train since before Phoenix had even heard of Kurain. She hadn't changed a bit.

"Oi, you! I'm takin' your order. Wadda you want?"

"Oh, I'm fine thanks, I don't want any-"

"You come into the dinin' car and say you don't want nothing? Why I oughtta…"

"Ok, ok, I'll have a latte."

"That's better. One latte," she began plodding back to whence she came, then suddenly turned round at an un-Mildred like speed.

"Hey, you look familiar. You're that lawyer kid, ain'tcha? The one who kept yelling about your complexion."

"The word I objection. And yeah, I am that lawyer kid."

"In that case, the latte is double the cost. You were the most annoying passenger we ever had."

"Ok."

She plodded away. Finally Phoenix could relax. Mildred – or Mystic Mildred as Phoenix and the gang had taken to calling her – hadn't changed a bit. She had hated him then, she hated him now.

"Um, excuse me, Mildred. Might I have a cup of hot chocolate, please?"

"Of course, Iris, honey. It's on the house."

Iris. So he wasn't travelling alone. Iris was here. She was facing away from him so he could only see her from the back. She had grown her hair – it now went down to her waist. Having ditched the hairstyle she and her sister once wore, a flower crowned the top of her head. Ironically, it was a purple Iris. She didn't wear the uniform of a nun, nor of a spirit medium. It was somewhere in between – a light pink long sleeve dress with a purple ribbon round the waist, and purple sandals on her feet. Her sweet sing-song voice hadn't changed a bit.

Mildred got the hot chocolate immediately, and added some extra marshmallows. It would take about twenty minutes to make Phoenix's latte. Iris was a special case.

Iris thanked Mildred most gratefully and turned around. She was walking to the other end of the car when she noticed Phoenix out of the corner of her eye. Realising how rude it would be to ignore the only other passenger, she glided over to his table, not spilling a drop of her filled to the brim cup of hot chocolate.

"Sorry to disturb you, but have we met before? You look familiar."

To Phoenix's relief, she didn't recognise him. Well, she did recognise him, but she didn't recognise him as _him._

"I don't think we have met. Sorry."

"Oh, I do apologise! My mistake," she said, blushing bright red, "Might I sit with you, as we're the only two passengers?"

"Uh…sure," Phoenix agreed reluctantly. He hadn't expected Iris' charisma to have rocketed as it had. Now he had to sit for a whole train journey with her. Due to one stupid heat-of-the-moment lie he had to pretend to be someone else.

"I'm Iris," she said, sitting down opposite him.

"I'm…Felix."

"What was that?" she said with a surprised look.

"Felix. Felix Left." _Well done, genius, _he thought, _real smooth_.

"Oh! I used to have a very dear friend called Phoenix Wright. How funny!" She hadn't seem through him at all. Sometimes Iris could be just the tiniest bit gullible.

"What happened to him?" Phoenix asked. Having wondered what everyone thought of his sudden disappearance for many years, he was eager to take the chance offered to him.

"Oh, it was very sad. He just sort of … disappeared. It was very sad, we all miss him very much. But life moves on, I suppose."

"Yeah. I guess so."

They sat in silence, neither passenger daring to make eye contact. The silence must have gone on for a long time, though it didn't feel very long, as they had reached their destination before it was broken.

"Oi, you. We're here. Get off," growled Mystic Mildred at Phoenix. Her expression changed entirely as she turned to Iris before Phoenix could mention the coffee, or lack of, and politely informed her of their arrival.

Phoenix and Iris stood and made their way to the door. As Iris walked through the open door being offered to her by Phoenix, remembering his manners and holding it open for her, she broke the silence that had lasted virtually the whole journey.

"By the way, I'm not that gullible…Feenie."


	3. Reminders

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Phoenix Wright, I am a mere worshipper of the wonderful people who did

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Phoenix Wright, I am a mere worshipper of the wonderful people who did. Do now, without further ado, it's over to you, Phoenix:

A strange sensation filled Phoenix's soul as he walked down the single long, dusty street of Kurain Village. It was not the usual, expected sensation that one would get from a place so filled with spiritualism and harmony. It was more a feeling of finally coming home.

At the end of the road was a small but grandly decorated temple. It's thick, grey, stone walls were engraved with pictures of past Masters. Phoenix felt his heart rise to his throat when he saw the last panel. Seven years and he was actually here.

The red door, adorned with the yellow seal of the Fey Master, was locked. Iris explained that the Master must be meditating, and should not be disturbed. After asking around, they discovered she had been in there for quite some time and would be out in about half an hour.

"Mystic Iris!" Phoenix was surprised to hear that Iris, who had very few spiritual powers, was being called Mystic. This was, without a doubt, the doing of Maya.

"Yes, Melissa?"

Iris was called away on urgent duty. One of the mediums-in-training had trapped themselves accidently with a Fey Trick Lock. Mediums-in-training, Trick Locks – Phoenix must be the closest non-Fey there was to actually being a Fey. He knew almost everything. Mystic Ami, the urn, the Shichishito, the Master.

The Master – Maya Fey. How utterly insane. When Phoenix had first met Maya during that fateful case ten years ago, she had no intention to become the Master. She was young and constantly hyper. She didn't want to take on such a massive responsibility as this. However, here she was now, inside the little temple that Phoenix was leaning on as if it were the gratified wall of the Wright Anything Agency instead of the wall of an ancient temple in which the Master of a renowned spiritualist culture was meditating.

"Well, my, my, my? Who might this young scoundrel be?"

_Is she referring to me? It's been a long time since anyone's called me young, what with spending half my time with Trucy and Apollo._

"Ho, ho, ho! What brings a strapping young lad like you to Kurain Village?"

Phoenix racked his memory for where he had seen this woman before. She was short with a bent back. She wore not the uniform of a spirit medium but the dress and hood of a mountain nun. I was ridiculous in a warm place such as Kurain. Then, he remembered.

"Sister Bikini!" he said with a laugh. He certainly remembered _her_. It was a surprise to see her at Kurain, though.

"Huh? Have we met before?" the nun asked, a puzzled expression.

"Yes! Yes, we have. I'm sure you'd recognise me if it wasn't for the hat. I'm Phoenix Wr-"

"The lawyer! The lawyer!"

"Yeah, that's ri-"

"My dear boy! Come with me! You're rag and bones! Let me feed you up with my homemade stew!"

Phoenix had no choice but to be dragged by the arm to the Kurain's main hall. She sat him down on a cushion by a picnic blanket on the wooden floor and hobbled over to a massive bowl over a lantern of fire. A very dramatic appearance for a bowl of stew. She then dished out the stew, lumps and all into a little bowl. She plonked the bowl down in front of Phoenix and stared at him expectantly.

The stew wasn't _awful_, but it certainly wasn't something Phoenix would want to pay for in a restaurant, unless it was Tres Bien food, in which case it would fit in quite well. Phoenix smiled and laughed nervously after every mouthful. When he had finished, he pushed the bowl away.

"That was the best meal I've had in ages, Sister Bikini," he lied. He'd had a wonderful meal of Eldoon's noodles for breakfast this morning. It was going to take Gatewater class food to beat that.

"Would you like another bowl?"

"NO!! I mean, no thanks, I'm all … full up."

"My, my, my. What a shame – maybe another time?"

"Yeah, another time."

He stood up and walked over to the door to the Summoning Room.

"You can't go in there! Only mediums and clients can _ever_ go in there."

"Yeah, and lawyers and detectives. There was a case about nine years ago where I managed to get in here for a snoop around. I was the defence attorney. My client, funnily enough, was Maya F- I mean, the Master. But back then, she was just a spirit medium in training."

A tear came to his eye. He missed being the lawyer. He missed trampling around on crime scenes aimlessly, picking up evidence as he went. He missed Maya chirping in with stuff that didn't matter. He missed _everything_.

At that point, a young medium-in-training burst through the door. She had black hair tied up in a ridiculous bun on top of her excited, bubbly head. She wore a medium's uniform of purple. _Who does she remind you of, Phoenix?_

"The Master has finished meditating and is now out in winding way! Mystic Iris has told her she has a visitor, but the Master doesn't know who yet. She's waiting for you – Mystic Nick," she added with a bow for the ex-attorney. Maya certainly had been spreading her stories.

REVIEW REPLY:

Relyob: _Glad you liked it! Sorry if there was too much Iris – and I still haven't got to Maya yet! She'll be there next chapter, I promise. Thank you for reviewing, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story! :)_


	4. The Master

DISCLAIMER: See all previous chapters

DISCLAIMER: See all previous chapters. By the way, Maya doesn't turn around at all until I say she does. Now that we've go that cleared up: are we all sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

The Master leant on the fence and stared out over the garden or Winding Way. She didn't turn round when she heard Iris and her guest coming. She had changed. The chirpy, excited girl they called Maya was no longer. Now there was only the Master, solemn and wise.

"Master," Iris began, "I have with me a man from the city. He asks to stay in Kurain for a while."

"Who is he?"

"Mr. Left. He once was a lawyer. He doesn't talk a lot."

"A lawyer, huh? I used to know a lawyer. But he made a stupid mistake. He concentrated entirely on his client, forgetting himself – and his friends." The formality lifted with the mention of lawyers. Maya closed her eyes for last three words, forcing back the tears. The Master didn't cry.

"Mr. Left wishes to stay in Kurain, Master. Do you allow it?"

"Yes. He shall stay in the fourth spare room."

"I think our guest would rather stay in his usual room, having been here several times before. He wishes to stay in the sixth spare room."

"You know as well as I that room six has been turned into a training room for mediums with weak powers and selected guests. Guests cannot _sleep_ in the Wright Training Hall."

Maya really had changed. She had lost her quirky hairstyle. Now her hair was in two plaits, twisted together to make a bun. She wore a dark purple robe, decorated with Kurain symbols. The sandals she wore on her feet, glittering with gems, completed the look of a Kurain princess. Her voice sounded more level-headed than the voice of the overly-excited, teenage Maya that Phoenix once knew.

"But Master, the Wright Training Hall is not currently in use, and probably won't be for quite some time. This guest hopes only to take advantage of Kurain's hospitality for a week. Surely the hall can be spared – it is not that important."

"Iris," the Master snapped, her voice cracking slightly with emotion, "The importance of that hall lies not in it's use but in the man it is dedicated to. As long as we keep it in prefect condition, then he shall forever be with us in Kurain. Maybe one day he will come back to us. Then, and only then, will that hall be used as a bedchamber again."

"Precisely," said a new voice, adding itself to the conversation.

"What do you mean, prec- wait." She turned round slowly. That voice. She'd recognise that voice anywhere.

"NICK!!" With that, the Master disappeared. Maya was back, acting as if she was that nineteen year old girl who had spent her days annoying her old friend Nick with the help of her petite accomplice. She slipped out of the heavy sandals and threw her arms around him, nearly knocking him backwards.

"Hey, watch it, Maya. We don't want to smash that urn apart again."

She grabbed his arm and dragged him to the main hall, leaving Iris to pick up the discarded sandals and then scamper after them. Maya spouted gibberish the whole way. She had so much to say, but then, so did he. They had _a lot_ of catching up to do.


	5. Her Story

Why must the first line repeat itself

Why must the first line repeat itself?

DISCLAIMER: How many times? I don't own the Ace Attorney series, the characters, or any on that stuff. Enjoy the chapter –

It took a long time, but finally Phoenix finished his recital of the past seven years. Maya had been determined to know every little fact about Trucy, from her hair colour to her favourite character in the Bronze Samurai.

"Enough about me. What have you been up to?"

"Well," Maya began, a clear signal that this was going to take quite some time, "It all began seven years ago – obviously."

_Seven Years Ago…_

Pearly and I were, as you know, at the Kurain ceremony that we left you for. I was proclaimed Master of Kurain and we made our way back. We arrived outside Wright And Co., only to see it signless. Is that a word? Never mind.

We were about to go in when this guy stopped us. He had glasses and a weird spirally ponytail. He was wearing a suit with a spiffy pink bow and, noticed by Mystic Maya's amazing powers of suduc – I mean, deduction, he had a lawyer's badge on his jacket. He spoke in a German accent and told us that Mr Wright – that's you, obviously – wasn't accepting visitors. When we asked when you _would_ be accepting visitors, he pretty much told us to get lost. We came back again a few weeks later, but he was there again. After that, Pearly gave up. When she gives up, so do I.

After we left the office, we picked up the newspaper so that we could read the comics on the train back. The article on the front page changed everything. "Star Falls: Wright Loses Fight Along With Badge – end quote." Yeah, we both thought it was a rubbish headline too. It was by some guy called Spiky Brush or something like that.

Anyway, Pearly was distraught. She spent half of her time in tears, sitting on the bed in the room you always stayed in. you were the last person ever to sleep in that room, and our sentimental Pearly was determined to keep it that way. That's when we came up with the idea of the Wright Training Hall. It wasn't exactly a hall – more of a box-room, as you once said – but it would do. At least you would still be with us, in a way.

So, after that, we all settled down. I went about my Master-ly duties, with Pearly as my cute little sidekick. Recently she got herself a job down in the city in that shop we always you used to go to. She seems happy enough there. Ironically, there hasn't been a single murder in Kurain since you left. Just saying.

_Here And Now_

"Yeah, I spotted Pearly behind the counter. She fitted in very well with the mystical junk in that shop. No offence, oh Master."

"Hey, watch it. I could set my spirit medium minions on you."

"Would they attack Mystic Nick?"

"Ah. You found out. Pearly certainly holds you in high esteem, eh?"

"Can't imagine why. Anyway, before we get too bogged down in chit-chat, can I ask you a favour? I've left some green attorney to look after my Trucy. I was wondering if they could possibly come up and stay here with me for a week or two?"

"Of course! They can have rooms five and seven – either side of your room, Nick."


	6. Habits

DISCLAIMER:

DISCLAIMER:

For anyone with questions and queries,

I don't own the Ace Attorney Series,

Capcom owns the claims to that glory,

So now I'll shut up – please enjoy the story!

Apollo glanced unenthusiastically down at the shopping list. He virtually knew it off by heart as it was the same every week. Bread, milk, grape juice, cereal (the unhealthy kind), coffee, and a ready meal lasagne for Sunday lunch. Apollo once accused Mr Wright of drinking too much coffee. He just went into a fit of hysterical laughter. Sometimes Apollo wondered if the man was going senile.

He wasn't sure when or why he had started doing the Wright family's shopping. He just had. He also did the cleaning – apart form the toilet, which Mr Wright cleaned obsessively – and picked Trucy up from school. He joined them for Sunday lunch and for any trips they went on. Trucy had commented several times that he was the perfect housewife, causing Apollo to go the colour of his suit.

Apollo turned around the corner, following his usual route. His feet did the walking for him, he no longer thought about where he was going. On his way to the dairy aisle he automatically picked up a chocolate bar for Trucy. It was just a habit now.

As he reached out for the chocolate bar dressed in it's shining green wrapper, he felt a vibration in his back pocket. _What on Earth…? Oh, my phone. I must have put it on vibrate when I was in the cinema with Trucy._

"Hello, this is Apollo Justice speaking."

"Hey, Justice. Phoenix here. Just wanted to thank you for looking after Trucy for me."

"Yeah, it's fine. Are you coming back now?"

"Not quite. But, seeing as you're such a great babysitter, I've decided to treat you to a holiday."

"A holiday? Huh?"

"Yup! A trip to the soothing, spiritual Kurain Village, a place where you will come to find your more spiritual side and-"

"How much will it cost?"

"Oh no, it's all expenses paid. If you and Trucy catch the train and I'll pay you back for the tickets when you get here-"

"Oh – you and Trucy too?"

"Yup! A family holiday – you are, after all, a part of the family now. So, pack today, turn up any time tomorrow, see you then!"

Mr Wright hung up. No more information. Those were his only instructions – pack today, turn up tomorrow. A family holiday. Apollo really was the perfect housewife.


	7. Another Train

DISCLAIMER:

DISCLAIMER:

I hope to tell you in this rhyme,

That Ace Attorney is not mine.

It belongs to Capcom, without a doubt,

I just find it fun to write about.

Apollo, without further ado,

I hand this chapter over to you.

"Oh boy, a train!"

"Why do you look so surprised? You knew we were going to be going on a train. You kept talking about it the whole time. That was why the taxi-driver told you to shut up, remember?"

"But Polly, it's a _real_ train."

"And there was me thinking it was a bus pretending to be a train. Come on, it's boarding time. And before you demand it, yes, you can have the window seat. And we can visit the dining car – if you're good."

_Another Train_

Apollo could only see the top of Trucy's hat over the tall menu, but he could tell by the way she was fidgeting with the corner of the menu that she was thinking hard. Trucy was great at decisions – apart from food.

"Do you think I should have a milkshake or a hot chocolate?"

"Are you hot or cold?"

"Um…cold."

"Have a hot chocolate then."

"Marshmallows or no marshmallows? It depends on the colour. I don't like blue ones, they creep me out. I'll ask the waitress when she comes back."

And so the queries were fired at Apollo. Cream or no cream? Chocolate sprinkles or no chocolate sprinkles? Finally, just when Apollo was at his wit's end and beginning to wonder if there would ever _be _a hot chocolate, Trucy decided on her prefect beverage.

"What would you like, hun?" asked the waitress. The badge on her blouse read Mildred. She looked like a Mildred, somehow.

The next few minutes were spent organising Trucy's dream hot chocolate. The waitress turned around, not even considering that Apollo might have an order.

"Um, excuse me?" he said, "Can we also add a latte to that order?"

"You look a little young for a latte," observed Mildred, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm twenty two."

Mildred just laughed and said she'd only give him a small cup of decaf.

_Another Train_

The hot chocolate was, indeed, perfect. The coffee was, indeed, small. Trucy was halfway through the cream, Apollo having finished his coffee quite some time ago, when a teenage girl skipped through the dining car. She was having a pleasant chat with Mildred, the waitress from hell, when observant Apollo noticed that Trucy had cream dripping from her chin. He rolled his eyes and stood to find a napkin.

_Thwack!_

"I am so, so sorry!" exclaimed the girl, grabbing Apollo's arm and yanking him up from the ground. The floor was covered with water, water that had until recently been in a glass that was in the corner. And the other corner. And also all over the floor.

"Oh no, the apology's all mine!" said Apollo, pausing only after to listen to how that sounded. No, it didn't quite make sense. Never mind, it was said now.

The girl bent over the counter and grabbed a dustpan and brush. She was wearing a white mini-dress with a thick purple ribbon wrapped round the waist. She wore a purple jacket with it, decorated with flowers and beautiful embroidery. Around her neck was a string of pearls, on her feet a pair of sandals. Most of her hair was loose, but some was tied up in two pigtails that flicked over in an 'm' shape.

Apollo immediately rushed to help her sweep up the remainders of the glass of water.

"I'm… I'm Pearl," the girl said, blushing slightly. She looked just as nervous as Apollo felt.

"I'm fine! I mean, I'm A-Apollo. Apollo Justice. I'm a lawyer."

"R-really? I used to know a lawyer."

"R-really?"

They both giggled, despite the fact that it really wasn't funny. Mildred and Trucy exchanged knowing looks.

"That's a very beautiful, er, jacket."

"Thank you – I'm a spirit medium. The embroidery is because I'm – well, I don't want to sound boastful, but I'm the Kurain Master's deputy."

"Wow, r-really? I'm going to stay in Kurain for a holiday!"

"R-really? So am I! I usually work in the spirit medium shop in the city."

Giggles and knowing looks were once again exchanged. This carried on for the remainder of the journey, despite the fact that the glass and water had been cleared up at the very beginning of the conversation.


	8. He's Come Home

DISCLAIMER:

DISCLAIMER:

With each disclaimer I do write,

Another poem to recite.

And though to play it does delight,

I still don't own Phoenix Wright.

Capcom does. End quote.

The sun shone brightly as Trucy skipped out of the dusty train into the sweet open air. The flowers danced in a light breeze, the grass was green, the sky was blue, and it was over all an overly-clichéd perfect summer's day.

She was followed by Apollo and Pearl, engrossed in conversation. Apollo was halfway through his retelling of the day he won his first trial. Pearl listened eagerly, her eyes wide open and her cheeks rosy red, remembering the days she too stood in that courtroom.

"And then my client turned to me and said, "What tangled webs we weave when we practice to deceive. So tangled, we catch ourselves in the process." I was a little freaked out when he said that, but-"

"Um, Apollo? I am so sorry if my interruption is at all rude, but might I ask you something?"

"Oh, not at all! I mean, it's not at all rude. Please, ask away."

"You keep referring to your client. Who _was_ your client? Purely out of curiosity, of course, I'm sorry if I sound nosy!"

"Oh, no, not at all. I mean, you're not at all nosy. His name was Phoenix Wright."

"Ph-Phoenix Wright?" The colour rushed out of her face. Her eyes seemed to glass over, the shock hitting her like a prosecutor's coffee mug hitting a legendary defence attorney during a trial.

"Yeah! Mr Wright's sort of my mentor now. I'm meeting him here today, in fact. Why, do you know him?"

She didn't reply. The words just couldn't come to her mouth. She knew him alright. After all these years – he was here. In Kurain Village. He had come home to them.

"Mr. Nick," she whispered.

"You can bet on that, Pearls," laughed a voice joining the conversation from the door of the little hut they claimed to be a train station. He was clad in a black tracksuit, blue hat and old sandals, but that was, without a doubt, him.

"MR. NICK!!"


	9. Then And Now

DISCLAIMER:

DISCLAIMER:

Disclaimer should be short and not drone,

So Ace Attorney: me no own.

WARNING: This chapter gets a bit angst-y at the end. Mostly because I was writing this in a dark room.

_Then_

They sat in a circle in the courtyard,  
The trio, Phoenix, Pearl and Maya.  
The tea was cold and the burgers charred,  
By the flames of the dying fire.

They discussed old trials of old cases,  
Laughed about times gone by.  
They made sure no food was wasted,  
Splitting the last apple pie.

They shared every scrap of food left over,  
They shared every memory stored.  
From childhood stories of four leaved clovers,  
To tales of idols adored.

A friendship between a lawyer and two girls,  
Family though not all related.  
The trio, Phoenix, Maya and Pearls,  
Never to be separated.

_Now_

"Wow, I've missed this old place. We used to call it our Secret Garden, remember? Our own little courtyard behind the trees. We'd sit round the fire, just like this, and discuss any old rubbish that came into our head. You wrote that poem about it, Pearls – what was it? _They sat in a circle_-"

"Mr. Nick, don't recite it! It's embarrassing."

"I thought it was very good. It's stuck to my fridge at the moment, right under the picture of Trucy's first show at the Wonder Bar."

A tear came to Pearl's smiling eyes. Even the smallest sentiment meant the world to her. Mr. Nick meant the world and it's brother, sister and long lost best friend.

The night went wonderfully. They stayed up remembering old cases, old times, the good old days. It was like it had been seven years ago – apart from the fact that three had become five.

They ambled back at ten minutes to midnight. The group separated into two clumps, the girls and the boys keeping a distance from each other as if the opposite gender was some terrifying unknown. In a way, it was.

"So, Apollo, how are you enjoying Kurain?"

"Oh, it's beautiful," said Apollo cheerily. He added, "As are a few of it's residents perhaps."

"Apollo! How could you? She's much too young for you! She's only sixteen."

"Huh? How did you guess?"

"You don't become a legend attorney by wandering around not noticing stuff, Apollo. I'm like a big brother to our Pearls, and I notice when some guy _obviously_ fancies her."

"Was it that obvious?"

"Yes."

Apollo sighed and stared at the floor. This was the difference between him and Klavier Gavin. They both liked the same kinds of girls from the same kinds of backgrounds – it was just that Gavin did so without getting caught.

"So, these guys knew you when you were a legend, huh?" said Apollo, eager to change the subject from his familiar love life. Apparently, he made the wrong decision.

"When I _was_ a legend. Gee, that's a hard box to be put in. Used-to-be legend, bygone, no longer worth the time."

"No, no, that's not what I meant!"

"It's OK, Apollo. The past is where _that_ lawyer belongs. I'm just a dead-end, poker-playing, rubbishy pianist. I've just got to concentrate on Trucy now, the next generation. My era's over, there's no point pretending I'm still relevant. The show's over, the audience have all gone home. That legend is dead."

There was silence. Dead silence, a silence that filled Apollo with discomfort, melancholy and pity. It was painful to hear Phoenix Wright, one of the greatest attorneys of all time, speak in that mournful way.

"Not all of the audience have gone home, Mr Wright. I still believe in you."

"Sweet, Apollo, but a blatant lie. You're the lawyer now. You're the one they all believe in." His voice was tinged with venom and hurt, mostly because he knew that this time he really was right.


	10. Oragami And Hair Gel

DISCLAIMER:

DISCLAIMER:

I don't know why I write these in rhyme,

But Ace Attorney: it's not mine.

Everyone trudged down to breakfast to find Pearl and Phoenix already there, having been up and hour ago at six am. Despite getting up four hours earlier than usual, Phoenix looked bright, happy and refreshed. Apollo, glad to see his mentor feeling better than the night before, grabbed some cereal and joined them, sitting on the opposite side of the table.

"Hello, Mr Wright. Good morning, Pearl," he said, saying the latter in a softer voice. Phoenix rolled his eyes. Pearl still hadn't caught on.

"Good morning, Apollo! We've just been planning what to do in the week that you, Trucy and Mr Nick are here. Gosh, there's so much to do I doubt that we can fit it all in! Me and Mr Nick have – wait, is that right?"

"Pearly, don't be so nit-picking, just get on with it, I'm dying to hear these plans of yours," said Maya as she sat down next to Pearl. Apollo was starting to feel left out. There was three on one side of the table and only he on his side of the table. This always happened.

"Well," began Pearl in the loud clear voice she had been taught to read in, "Today, Monday, we'll go down to the lake in the morning, come back for lunch and then we though we could perhaps do some origami in the afternoon."

"Maybe we could invite Edgeworth up," smirked Phoenix, remembering his friend's previous origami disasters.

"That's an id-"

"Don't. He can't see me like this."

"If you're worried about him laughing at your hat, just take it off."

Phoenix's eyes widened. Take off the hat? He'd never even considered the thought of taking off the hat. Now, three pairs of eager eyes and one pair of unenthusiastic eyes stared at him expectantly.

"Come on Daddy, take it off. Hat off! Hat off!"

Soon they were all chanting. Even Apollo was mumbling, "hat off," after getting a sharp nudge from Trucy. With a laugh, Phoenix dramatically removed the hat.

"Nick, your hair is a mess! What's happened to your spikes?"

"What, you though that stuff was natural?"

Maya grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to his room. There was a shrine in there, the room having been the Wright Training Hall until recently. She grabbed a bottle of hair gel from it and began work of Phoenix's hair.

"A hair gel shrine?"

"Pearly's work, not mine."

Trials And Tribulations: when you're playing as Edgeworth, go down to the Heavenly Hut. If Larry's there, examine the banners – Larry will tell you about the time they all did origami at school and


	11. Nonsensical Sense

DISCLAIMER:

There once was a lawyer called Nick,  
Whose daughter could do magic tricks,  
He had his own games,  
To which all the claims,  
Belonged not to me but to Mick…I, mean, Capcom.

The park would have been perfect had it not been for the scrap car at the bottom of the lake. No-one was quite sure how it got there, and no-one intended to bring it back up. To Kurain Village, it was like a ship-wreck. A treasure chest in the dashboard, barrels of rum on the back seat.

Maya and Phoenix sat on a picnic blanket and watched as the three younger visitors ran around yelling things like, "You're it!" and, "Time out!" Maya sipped her lemonade as Phoenix picked up the bottle of grape juice for yet another re-fill.

"What do you think Mr Grossberg would say if he was drinking lemonade watching three kids playing the park, Nick?" Maya asked with a giggle.

"Ah…the days of my youth…like the scent of fresh lemon…" they declared in unison before collapsing in fits of hysterical laughter. Apollo glanced over in confusion, thereby being walloped on the head by the football flying towards him. He was knocked backwards into the lake.

"Hey, Polly, at least you're not wearing your suit!" said Trucy, trying to help but unable to stifle the giggles.

"It's not funny," mumbled Apollo. He was wearing a plain red t-shirt, blue shorts and brown sandals. Now the whole outfit was sopping wet.

"Don't worry, Apollo, I'm sure you'll dry off," said Pearl.

Maya rolled her eyes. She stood up and walked towards the village, yelling back that she was going for a change of clothes for Apollo and would be back in a few minutes. Trucy watched to make sure she was completely out of sight, then ran over to her daddy and plonked herself down beside him.

"Daddy," she began in a stern voice, "You are neglecting Pearl, Polly and I. If you don't help build the hut that we're going to build, then I'll never speak to you again. You're just sitting here with Maya. That's favouritism. Besides, I'm used to having you all to myself."

"Sorry, Trucy-doll, it's just that me and Maya have a lot to catch up on."

"You two are really good friends, huh?"

"Yeah. See, I feel that Maya knows me better than anyone else in the world does. Even myself!"

"No-one can know you better than yourself, Daddy."

"Well, I've never really met myself. You see, when you sit just with yourself, you're alone. So in a way, you've never met yourself."

"You know, that makes sense in a strange sort of nonsensical way."

She leapt up and skipped away to join the others who were gathering wood and laughing at things that really weren't funny. Seeing that Trucy was back, Apollo went over to the blanket for his session of wisdom from the guru, Phoenix Wright, founder of the Wright Training Hall.

"Hey, Mr Wright, I see you've brightened up a bit since yesterday."

"Sure have, Apollo. But you still can't date Pearl."

Apollo immediately launched into full persuasive lawyer mode. Pleading eyes, over-dramatic hand movements, the whole shebang.

"But Mr. Wright, it's just like you and Maya. There's only six years difference, it's the same system really…"

"What do you mean by me and Maya?"

"Uh…sorry. Just sort of slipped out. You know, I'm just going to go and gather some wood now. Bye!"

He fled into the woods where Pearl and Trucy were having a leaf fight. Phoenix chuckled and set to work covering the wet patch that the boy's dripping clothes had left behind on the blanket.


	12. Note To Self

DISCLAIMER:

DISCLAIMER:

Same old, same old,

Ace Attorney's not been sold.

It isn't mine and never was,

I don't own it, Capcom does!

After finding the barbecue, releasing the barbecue from the garage full of junk, dragging the barbecue to the park, forcing the barbecue into the boat, forcing the barbecue out of the boat, and setting the barbecue up on the little island in the middle of the lake, the burgers were gratefully accepted.

They sat round the edge of the island with their legs in the lake, talking and laughing as if they'd all know each other all of their lives instead of just all day. Maya sat next to Phoenix, who sat next to Trucy, who sat next to Apollo, who sat next to Pearl, who sat next to Maya, and so on. The barbecue stood proudly in the middle of the tiny round island, and they all sat facing away from it.

"Burgers," sighed Phoenix wistfully, as if they were some magical forgotten treasure that he hadn't seen for centuries. Trucy and Apollo looked confused. Pearl and Maya nodded and sighed wistfully in agreement.

"Remember that classy burger joint we went to once? We were going shopping – it was the day we found the spirit medium shop! You were complaining about the price – but they were great burgers," said Maya, looking up to the sky as if the restaurant was going to fall from the clouds and land in the lake.

"Yeah, I remember. That place bankrupted me with one meal. The burgers were pretty good though," Phoenix replied, attempting to skim a stone across the water with little success.

"Look at those two lovebirds. They can't even hear us talking they're giggling so much. They haven't even said anything funny. Apollo said how he liked baked potatoes, Pearl said she liked them too, and they burst into fits of laughter at the coincidence."

"Sweet."

Trucy sat between the two conversations, staring out across the lake. She held a blue notebook with a silk hat design on the back in one hand and a glittery pen in the other. Daddy had suggested a diary to help her hold back a little of that energy. She had found this one in a box with a load of her real daddy's possessions. However, being impatient at times, Trucy gave up on the diary and turned it into a planner/jotter.

_Note to self: Everyone else is paired up with everyone else. Must find boyfriend_.


	13. Flowers

DISCLAIMER:

Writing these just make me moan,

"I can't be bothered, write your own!"

However this I must include,

Or else I'll get damn well sued,

It belongs to Capcom, without a doubt,

I just find is fun to write about:

So now, with further wait:

Lets see what tale of woe awaits:

Oh, I'd also just like to thank and , which is where I found all of these models. Yes, even Bikini's is out there somewhere.

They all sat on cushions in a circle in the main hall. Iris and Bikini had joined them, and Bikini was currently in the process of force-feeding them her homemade stew. Everyone smiled gratefully as they gulped another mouthful down reluctantly. The only person who seemed to genuinely enjoy it was Iris, who had been eating it for years and was therefore immune.

After everyone had lied to Bikini about how much they enjoyed the dish, Pearl skipped off to grab the box of paper from her sunny room. It was a fairly small room, but the beautiful bay window made up for the lack of room. There was a bed with a yellow patchwork eiderdown, a white wooden bedside table with a yellow lamp and a small alarm clock, and a matching chest of drawers with a vase of flowers on top. Beside this was the box.

When she arrived, she shared out the paper equally along with a set of instructions for each person. Pearl herself had done little origami, but Iris was an expert, having had a lot of spare time while living at Hazakura Temple. She spent most of her time explaining the technique in detail to Phoenix, while Bikini and Trucy told random jokes, Pearl and Apollo giggled at things that weren't funny, and Maya stared at the ceiling, letting her hands do the work for her. She too had done this a million times.

"Finished!" declared Trucy. She had made not a hat as expected, but a heart from the level one page. She grinned with pride, then set about to make another one. Phoenix, ever the protective parent, raised his eyebrow but said nothing.

The next to finish was Pearl. She held up her butterfly, also from level one, making swooping movements with her arm. Apollo laughed and clapped like a small child. Trucy and Bikini exchanged knowing looks.

Phoenix came third with his flower. Trucy looked shocked, declaring that it was far too girly. Everyone laughed. Trucy went into a sulk.

"Well, well, well, anyone in mind?" asked Bikini, fluttering her eyelids. Phoenix laughed, saying he hadn't really though of that. Iris stared at him expectantly, but he didn't even look her way before sheepishly handing the flower to Maya.

"I knew it!" Pearl yelled excitedly, forgetting her manners for a moment and leaping up from the floor. She blushed, apologised and sat back down. Phoenix had turned redder than Apollo's suit.

"No, no, it'd not like that! I mean, it's a like…a token of appreciation for years of being my assistant! Yeah, that's it." He was turning redder by the second. Everyone just laughed and reassured him it was fine that no-one suspected anything between them, they were just teasing. Everyone but Pearl, who sat fiddling with her butterfly looking disappointed. Apollo patted her on the arm comfortingly. Phoenix just glared at him.

Fourth was Bikini with a very complex and very random level C gas pump. Everyone congratulated her, secretly wondering why on earth she had decided to make a gas pump.

"I've finished!" declared Apollo.

"That's great Apollo!"

"Yeah, good work, Justice."

"My, my, what a fine…piece of work."

"How beautiful."

"That's wonderful, Apollo, just wonderful!"

"Nice, Polly, but what is it?"

"Um," Apollo mumbled, turning even redder than Phoenix, "It's a frog. According to the book, it can sort of hop. Let me just…oh." It fell apart, and was once again a scrunched up piece of green paper.

"Never mind, Apollo," said Pearl with a sweet smile, "I'm sure that we can work on it! Next time you have any spare time, come find me and I'll help you out with it!"

"Iris, darling, you've already done two!" said Bikini, "Show them to us."

"Huh, I've done two? I guess I must have made another without noticing. I've made so many before. My first was an Iris, I know that." She held up the Iris for all to see. It was utterly faultless. "And the second is…oh."

"What is it?" asked Maya.

"Um…it doesn't matter."

"Mystic Iris? Are you OK?" said Pearl, a look of worry coming across her previously happy face.

"Uh…it's a Dahlia."

The whole room was silent. Apollo had read that case file. Everyone else had been there – apart from one.

"Cool! What's so worrying about that?" asked Trucy, truly ignorant to what dark memories had just been stirred.

"I'll tell you later, Trucy. Let's just leave for now and get on with this, yes?" intervened her father just in time.

"Uh…ok then."

They continued under an uncomfortable silence. Everyone glanced nervously at everyone else, wishing the day could end soon. A cold breeze came through the door making them shiver, and seconds stretched out, feeling like hours. Finally, Maya broke the silence.

"Done!" she declared with pride. She was the Master of Kurain and therefore expected to be the best at origami, but also expected to take the longest amount of time.

"Yey! Let's see, Mystic Maya!" said a genuinely excited Pearl.

"I've made a Phoenix. A token of appreciation for all those years as my assistant."

"You were my assistant."

"Yeah, whatever, just except it and don't be so ungrateful."

"…Thanks."

Soon afterwards they packed up and went back to their rooms. Pearl sat on her bed staring at the butterfly, wondering why her emotions had changed so dramatically over the past day. Apollo tried over and over again to make the frog, holding his head in his hands with frustration when it _just wouldn't work_. Trucy cried onto her Daddy's shoulder after he explained about Dahlia. Bikini tossed and turned in her bed, hoping Iris was OK. Iris stared at the paper flowers she held in her hands and didn't sleep a wink. Maya read over old case files, just remembering.

_Smiley's for those who can guess who says what! _


	14. Friends, Frogs And Cereal

DISCLAIMER:

DISCLAIMER:

Same as normal, nothing's changed,

No ownerships have been exchanged.

I own this story, nothing more,

The rest, dear Capcom, it is yours.

WARNING: SPOILERS for Trials and Tribulations.

The first person down to breakfast was Phoenix. He plugged himself into his cheap, broken Ipod and shovelled cereal into his mouth, hoping to finish before the others arrived. The silence would probably be as thick as last night, and even the patience of Phoenix Wright couldn't stand that.

He wasn't fats enough. Next down was Iris. She sat opposite him, said good morning and immediately launched into conversation.

"Feeni- I mean, Phoenix. I am sure you want to apologise about last night, but I promise you it is not necessary."

"It's not?"

"No. I saw it coming entirely."

Phoenix nearly sprayed the coffee all over her with shock. How could she possibly have seen that coming? She couldn't have _expected_ memories of Dahlia to rise out of the blue while just sitting there with her paper flowers – could she?

"Phoenix," she continued, "I just want you to know you made the right decision. After everything we've been through, I am glad you didn't feel pressure to give that flower to me. Our relationship is over, and I'm glad you've found pastures new with Maya. I hope you are very happy together. I'm sure I too will find someone – someday."

This time Phoenix did spray the coffee everywhere.

"You mean…you thought…you think…"

There was nothing he could say. The thought had never even crossed his mind to give the flower to Iris. He had ended the relationship years ago – when they were in college, in fact. He had thought she was her sister, but he had still ended it – mostly due to the murder thing. Entirely because of the whole murder thing, actually.

"Iris! I'm not in a relationship with Maya at all! We're just friends! Good friends, nothing more. I hope that's how we can be. Iris, try to understand. I don't want to sound harsh, but we have no future. Seven years ago, maybe. But now…I'm a different man."

"Phoenix, it's fine. I never expected anything more," Iris said, trying to sound strong but fighting back the tears.

"Iris…I want to love you, I just can't. I never will be able to. I'm sorry."

He left her on her own and ran back to his room. He felt awful for telling the truth, but the truth was the truth and it had to be told.

"Hey, Iris! Good morning," said Maya cheerily. A false cheeriness, but it was necessary for the Master to be able to act like that.

"Oh…Master Maya. Good morning."

"Why the formality? Are you OK?"

"I feel slightly unwell. I'm sorry to be rude, but I really must retire to me room."

She ran off, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. Maya stood up, but decided against going after her. Maybe she just needed some time alone – yesterday hadn't been easy for her. She sat down and continued her breakfast.

"Good morning, Mystic Maya!" said Pearl with a smile. She sat down opposite Maya, tucking into the two pieces of toast on her plate. Trucy soon followed, and they had a girly chat about Pink Princess and the Gavinners. Maya seemed a little less enthusiastic than usual, but Pearl expected it was some sort of Master thing and didn't ask.

Finally, at ten am, Apollo dragged himself to breakfast. He wore the same crumpled clothes as yesterday, and he looked like he hadn't slept for a month. Maya had already left, so Pearl and Trucy were left to stare at the bedraggled man approaching them.

"Morning guys…girls…whatever," he muttered. He sat down and stared at his cereal. Trucy stared at him. She wondered what was going through his mind. _Hmm…pretty cereal. Maybe I can read my future in it._

"Um…Apollo? Are you all right?" asked Pearl.

"Yeah. I've just finished my eighty-fourth origami frog. This one actually works. Do you want it?" They spent the next half hour complimenting the frog, until Apollo fell asleep in his cereal and the two girls had to drag him back to his room.


	15. Magic Rota

DISCLAIMER:

DISCLAIMER:

_Us'ally I'd write a rhyming disclaimer,_

_But today I can't think of one._

_Because not much rhymes with disclaimer,_

_So today, disclaimer, there's none._

_Oh, and don't own Relight My Fire,_

_It's just a song that I admire._

"What does it say, what does it say? What, Magic Rota, will we do today?" chanted Pearl and Trucy, both still little children at heart. They were the only ones who were smiling that morning. Iris, Maya and Phoenix looked truly wretched due to the events at breakfast. Apollo was asleep and wouldn't be up till lunchtime.

"OK, this morning we'll be fishing on a Kurain fishing bo…bo…how do you pronounce that, Trucy?" asked Pearl, blushing with embarrassment. She turned away as Trucy read the word.

"It's boat."

"Oh. I – I have slight literacy difficulties. I can't read very well. I didn't start learning properly till I was eight. Then Mr Nick taught me – but I'm still not very good."

"That's OK! You shouldn't feel embarrassed – I still can't do all my times tables. I can only go up to six without having to work it out on my fingers."

"Oh, I do times tables songs in my head! Mystic Maya taught me them."

"Hey, that's a good idea! I might try that. Hey, why don't we meet up some time – I could help you with reading and you could help me with times tables!"

"Please, girls," Phoenix interrupted, "Can you just get on with the rota? Then we can go find this boat."

"OK, Mr Nick. We're going to have the fish we caught for dinner – oh no! I can't do that! I can't catch a poor little fish and then _eat _it! Right, those who want to can have fish, others can have salad."

Everyone nodded in agreement. It seemed unlikely that anyone would be having fish that day. Apollo, of course, would be going hungry.

"And after that – oh my! A puppet show!" She giggled with glee, jumping about like she'd won the lottery. Trucy soon joined her, and soon they were having a small, two-guest party, breaking open the lemonade and singing, "Relight My Fire!" at the tops of their voices.

"What the hell is going on?" muttered, Apollo, stumbling downstairs, grabbing a can of lemonade and collapsing on a step. "Have I got rivals for my Chords of Steel or something?"


	16. Fishing

DISCLAIMER:

_DISCLAIMER:_

_Own GS – Ha! I wish._

_And I did not invent the fish._

Most mornings when the seven were together, something interesting was happening. Be it falling in cereal or falling in a lake, _something _was happening. What was happening this morning?

Nothing.

They sat three to a boat, Iris having resigned to her room for the morning. Apollo, Pearl and Trucy in one boat, Maya, Bikini and Phoenix in the other. They had failed to realise that there were very few, if any, fish in the Kurain Lake.

"So. Anyone actually _seen_ any fish?" asked Apollo. His two boat-mates replied in the negative.

"So. What does everyone think of Daddy and Maya?" asked Trucy, ever the gossip.

"I've believed in that relationship since I was eight. Eight years of experience can't be wrong – it _must_ be for real."

"Guys, I don't think we should be saying this stuff," worried Apollo.

"Whatever, Polly. Hey Pearl, if they _did_ get together, Maya would be my new mommy! We'd be related. Polly, you're smart at this stuff, how would we be related?"

Apollo paused for a moment before replying that they would be second cousins or something like that. the two girls cheered and started planning all the stuff they would do when they were related.

"And then we'll buy a yacht, and then-"

"Hey, hold on there," Apollo interrupted, "They aren't even in a relationship, let alone engaged. I think you two are jumping to conclusions."

"Polly, if you keep crushing our dreams, you'll end up in the water," explained Trucy.

"All I'm saying is-"

With one swift movement from Trucy and Pearl, he was, indeed, in the water. Again.


	17. New Friends And Old Friends

_DISCLAIMER: _

_Ace Attorney, mine? No way,_

_This chapter, I'd just like to say,_

_The fish line is for one reviewer,_

**Relyob**_! This chapter's for 'er._

"I've just been up to see Iris," Bikini announced to the table. "She's very pale, and won't be joining us for lunch. Maybe we'll see her later."

They silently tucked into their lunch of salad – no-one had caught any fish. Suspicious, nervous and uncomfortable looks were passed around the table. No-one spoke. Apollo's hair dripped onto his salad, ruining the whole meal for him. Bikini munched worriedly on her lettuce leaves, thinking about Iris and glaring at Phoenix. Phoenix moved the food about, pretending to eat it while glancing nervously at Bikini. Maya stared around the table and didn't eat much – it was her duty as Master of Kurain to sort this out, but she had no idea how. Trucy and Pearl just exchanged knowing looks the whole time, and only ate about half of their meals.

Finally the meal came to an end, and ended the awkward silence with it. They muttered a few words as they handed the plates and cutlery to Trucy and Pearl – it was their turn to wash up. As they did so half-heartedly, they held the discussion that they had been wanting to hold for the whole of lunch.

"So, what do you think about this whole Iris business?" asked Trucy.

"I can't help it, but I don't feel at all sorry for her. She's been trying to steal Mr Nick away from Mystic Maya for years. I feel so horrid and _sinful_ saying it though."

"Don't. I feel the same way. They sickly-sweet attitude makes me feel ill. I wish she had come with us – she might have been eaten by a giant fish."

"I think we'd all have preferred that!" Pearl giggled. It was wonderful to be able to talk to someone like Trucy. The two girls were on the same wavelength, though with similar minds. Pearl felt she could tell Trucy anything.

"Hurry up, girls," yelled Phoenix from the next room, "We've got some surprise visitors to help us with our puppet show!"

"Oh boy!" squealed Trucy, running into the main hall. "Huh? Who's this?"

"Oh, of course," Phoenix chuckled, "You've never met. Trucy, meet my old friends Larry Butz and Miles Edgeworth."

_Random Author's Note_

Yes! They're here! Bring out the champagne, switch into fangirl/boy mode, _Edgeworth had entered the building!_


	18. Introductions

DISCLAIMER:

_DISCLAIMER: _

_Ace Attorney: I do not possess,_

_Though with this game, I must confess,_

_I am a little bit obsessed,_

_As my fan fictions might suggest._

"Mr Edgeworth! Mr Laurice!" Pearl yelled, dropping the J-cloth she was holding and running up to them. She jumped on Larry, and her picked her up into a massive bear hug. Though Pearl had grown, she was still small for her age, and when you make a friend in the Losers' Club, you make a friend for life.

When she had finished hugging Larry, she turned to Edgeworth. His face turned pale, and he held out his hand. They shook hands, a much less dramatic reunion that with Larry.

"You know, Pearl, you're the only one who calls Larry Laurice," said Phoenix. Larry glared at him. He had ditched the artist's outfit, but hadn't quite gone back to his usual outfit. He now wore short tan trousers and an open light orange shirt over a light pink t-shirt. He wore orange sandals on his feet. His hairstyle was more mature, with shorter spikes and a more centred parting, but his goatee remained unchanged. He had a large orange rucksack slung over one shoulder.

Edgeworth's fashion sense had changed as well. He was on a visit there for pleasure, not business, and he had lost the formal attire, replacing it with a more casual suit. He wore a white shirt, top button undone, under a _magenta_ suit-jacket. He wore the usual magenta trouser and black shoes, but the cravat was no-where to be seen. A magenta-and-black checked suitcase on wheels sat next to him.

"I'm so glad you could come," said Maya, "Sorry it was at such short notice."

"So you were the one who called them," Phoenix grinned.

"Of course. When I heard you talking about Mr Edgeworth and his origami the other day at breakfast, I couldn't resist." Edgeworth sent Phoenix a death glare. The origami thing was not just public information to be told to anyone.

"So, who are these people?" Trucy asked.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce you. This is Larry Butz, an old school friend. He helped me out on some cases and messed up others. Don't argue, Larry, you know it's the truth. Now Larry's a failing ar- I mean, now Larry's an up-and-coming artist. He likes to be called Laurice, but only Pearl actually does that.

"This is Miles Edgeworth, another old school friend. We all call him Edgeworth or, if you're Larry, Edgey. You'll probably call him Miles first, but when you get to know him you stop calling him that. We even called him by his surname when we were nine.

"Larry, Edgeworth, this is Trucy. She's a well-known magician down at the Wonder Bar, a key component to the new Wright Anything Agency, and … my daughter."

"WHAT?!" Larry screamed, pulling the old Larry-is-angry face. "You had a daughter and didn't tell us? Hang on, how old is this kid? She must be about fifteen! Hey, human calculator, do the maths."

"Wright would have been eighteen," Edgeworth said, his face showing no sign of human emotion.

"Eighteen?! We were in collage then! Nick, please don't tell me this kid is Rissy's…"

"Larry, chill, you've got it all wrong. I _adopted_ Trucy. She was one of my client's daughters, but then he sort of disappeared. Well, not sort of, he _did_ disappear. But that's another story. I took Trucy under my wing and we started up a talent agency."

"Talent agency, huh? Could I join with my art?"

"Larry," said Edgeworth, "You would probably bring _down_ the level of talent."

"Ignore him, he's bee in a foul mood since I woke him up at three a.m. to get the train even though the train was at ten a.m. So, Nick, can I join?"

"It'll involve paper work to join."

"Forget it."

Sorry, fangirls/boys, it had to be done. I couldn't send Edgeworth on holiday looking like he usually does, could I? It would be cruel. I know it's hard to visualise Edgeworth without a cravat, but you're just going to have to try.

**Crystal Snowflakes**, your question was: "How it is that Edgey managed to tolerate Larry enough to show up with him?" My answer: He didn't


	19. Freaky Friday

DISCLAIMER:

_DISCLAIMER:_

_Thanks to those who notice how,_

_I tend to rhyme disclaimers now,_

_Just like to say that __you're insane,_

_If you think I own this splendid game._

_P.S. I also don't own Freaky Friday. Enjoy!_

"Awesome!" Larry yelled, "A puppet show!"

"A … puppet show?" Edgeworth repeated, with slightly less enthusiasm. "Wright, are you serious?"

"Look at me, Edgeworth. See this hat? Does it look like the hat of a _serious_ person? I'm never serious. However, I am telling the truth. You, Miles Edgeworth, the greatest prosecutor in the country, will be putting on a puppet show. Shame Iris isn't here, we were kind of counting on her turning up."

"And turn up she shall," said the sing-song voice from the door. "I heard that we had guests, and I couldn't be rude, could I?"

"R-Rissy! You look s…s…Edgey, what's that one word beginning with S?"

"Stunning?"

"Yeah! You look stunning."

The nine puppeteers sat in a circle. Maya explained that they would have the afternoon of today and the morning of tomorrow to make the puppets, backgrounds and props and to writ the script for their plays. The afternoon would be for putting on the shows.

The nine split into three groups of three – Iris, Larry and Pearl; Edgeworth, Trucy and Bikini; Phoenix, Apollo and Maya – and each person picked a name out of Phoenix's hat to find out who they would be acting as. The first to pick was Trucy.

"Oh! Polly, you're in for a treat. I'm you! I'd better go work on my Chords of Steel, then. I must get that voice _just_ right."

"Oh!" said Iris with a giggle, "I'll be stepping into the Master's glittering sandals for a while." Larry smiled to see her happy – it wasn't a usual Larry smile, but a genuine, caring smile. Edgeworth and Phoenix exchanged the oh-no-not-again-look that they'd been using since they were nine.

"Ha! Nick, I'm you. Hang on a minute, let me try this. OBJECTION!" Larry screamed. Phoenix glared at him as if saying, "You're doing it wrong."

Pearl squealed and jumped up and down when it was her turn. _Poor girl mustn't get our much,_ Larry thought as Pearl announced to the room with glee that she was now Mr Edgeworth.

"Oh no," Miles said, hanging his head in his hands. "Now not only to I have to spend nearly a week with that idiot, I actually have to _be_ him." No more needed to be said, because everyone knew who he was talking about. Apart from Larry, who needed his friend's breakdown to be explained to him by Phoenix.

"My, my, my," Bikini simply said, holding up the piece of paper with Iris's name on it. Maya gave her a high five as her scrap of paper revealed that she would be playing the bad-backed, cheerful, Hazakurian nun.

"Oh God. Trucy, we've obviously swapped places," Apollo muttered. Trucy ran around the room for a bit yelling something about Freaky Friday.

"Which means," Phoenix said, dipping his hand into the hat, "That I must have the honour of being you, Mystic Pearls." Pearl giggled again, the joined Trucy in running around the hall yelling. Larry joined them soon afterwards, and the mature people just watched them.

"OK, guys, chop chop. We've got until dinner to start on our puppets, scripts, et cetera. When you've finished your headless chickens impression, get back here."

Edgeworth, being a gentleman, gave the only chair that their group got to Bikini. He sat on the floor with Trucy, despite how demeaning he branded this to be. Maya had somehow acquired three sets of Make-Your-Own-Puppet-Show sets. Each set had three blank felt hand puppets, a cardboard stage and various arty bits to transform it all.

"Right then," Trucy said, deciding herself to be the leader of the group, "First of all, let's make Larry. Have we got any brown pipe cleaners?"

_Larry _

Soon the hand puppet looked vaguely like Larry. Glue dots attached the sliced pipe-cleaner to Larry's head, and Edgeworth's sewing skills came in handy making the light orange jacket. The pink t-shirt was a piece of felt glued onto the body of the puppet, and a chopped up pom-pom mixed with a lot of glue formed a decent goatee. The only problem that Edgeworth could find was that the googly eyes held too much intelligence.

As he complained about having to stick his hand where he would have to stick it to make Larry the puppet work, Edgeworth heard Iris, Larry and Pearl arguing over a puppet of their own.

"I would say it was red, dude."

"No, Apollo's suit is red. More maroon, perhaps."

"Maroon is too dark, Pearl."

"Guys, it's pink, and you know it is!"

Edgeworth decided to intervene.

"It's MAGENTA, goddamn it!"

_Apollo_

Edgeworth's talent for sewing came in handy once again with the red jacket that Apollo was wearing. Trucy glued a piece of white felt onto the body and stuck some tiny buttons on. She stuck some more white felt onto the arms, stopping midway and stick some more on to complete the rolled-up-sleeves effect. Bikini attached some gold sequins onto the wrist, and set to work on the hair, two pipe cleaners.

"It needs to be _perfect_." Trucy said, attempting to position the hair just so. In the end, she decided there was only one solution. She grabbed a protractor and strode over to the third group.

"Apollo, sit still. I need to measure the angle between your hair."

_Iris_

The group worked well together, mostly because of one key factor they had in common. Gossip.

As they began working on the puppet of Iris, they lowered their voices, leaned in closer, and kept glancing behind to see if anyone was listening. All the other groups, completely incompatible, were arguing too much for anyone to hear the three hushed voices.

"What do you think that hissy fit was about, eh?" Trucy asked.

"What hissy fit?" Edgeworth demanded, his eyes bright with curiosity. Trucy and Bikini explained the events of the morning. Edgeworth listened eagerly.

"So what did Iris say to you when you went to see her?" Trucy enquired.

"Well," Bikini began, "Her face was stained with tears, poor girl, and she was huddled on her bed with an old collage photo album. When I came in, she slammed it shut. I sat on the bed and asked her what was wrong, but she only warned me never to raise my hopes too high, for love is a painful subject. She didn't tell me anything else, just asked me to leave."

"So, Iris has been unlucky in love. I wonder who with," Trucy said, scanning the room for a possible love interest.

"Who but your father?" Miles said accusingly.

"My Daddy?!"

"Did he not tell you? Iris and Wright were childhood sweethearts in collage. He kept sending me letters about it. I don't know why. I don't even know how he got my address."

"But she's so pretty! How could Daddy get a girl like that?"

Bikini and Edgeworth laughed, and replied that the reason was a long and confusing one that they would explain when they had more time. They put the finishing touches on Iris's robe, and then were called for dinner.

_Author's Notes_

-- Thanks to everyone who have left reviews so far! Particularly to the anonymous reviewers who I haven't been able to thank with a review reply.

-- Yes, Edgey is just an old-wife gossip. Face it. We all knew it was true anyway.

-- I apologise for Iris's reappearance. It's only so I can give her a short storyline, then she'll shut up, I promise.


	20. Competitive

DISCLAIMER:

DISCLAIMER:

I don't own the Ace Attorney Series,

I own only my plots and my theories:

I haven't got time to write much more,

I'm afraid this disclaimer might be a bore!

Phoenix walked across the gravel path with a smile on his face. He had risen to a clichéd morning with a shining suns on the horizon and dew scattered around making the world sparkle. Breakfast awaited him along with the company of long-lost friends. There was catching up to do, and he couldn't wait.

"Morning all!" he said cheerily. It seemed his optimistic attitude was not shared with everyone else. Larry, Maya and Apollo sat at the table in the main hall. Larry glared at Maya, Maya glared at Apollo, and Apollo glared at his cereal.

"Where's everyone else?" Phoenix asked, as he attempted to catch a piece of toast as it sprung out of the toaster. _Attempted_, and failed.

"Iris is chatting happily to Pearl outside, and Pearl is miserably listening. Edgeworth, Trucy and Bikini have turned into competitive nutters and are sitting in that spare room off Winding Way planning the script for the puppet show," Maya explained between mouthfuls of cold toast.

"Yeah, Edgeworth can be like that. I mean, you saw him in court, but you should have seen him at school! We held a school quiz, and he actually broke the buzzer he was so eager to beat Larry. I mean, it's not like Larry would know the answer!" Phoenix laughed.

"Hi, Nick. I'm Larry. I'm your best friend. I'm sitting right in front of you, listening to you mocking me cruelly."

"Oh, hi, Larry."

_Winding Way_

The background for the play was finished. They had spent all morning painting it, filling in the props, while gossiping and explaining Phoenix's relationship with Iris. Edgeworth and Bikini had worked on painting the snowing cliffs, making a cardboard Heavenly Hall, and sticking tiny paper flags on a string from the wall of the stage, to the shack, to the wall. Trucy had concentrated on painting the Main Hall with seven shades of crown, and used some chopped-up blue towel to make the towels that hung on its wall.

"So shall we start on the script then?" Trucy asked when the work was complete.

"Are you sure you don't want any breakfast first?" said Edgeworth.

"This is way more important, Uncle Edgey."


	21. Racking Their Brains

_DISCLAIMER:_

_I've used the brainstorm many times,  
__But I did not invent it.  
__If I said AA was mine,  
__Then I would soon resent it._

_**Short chapter this time. Probably not as good as all the others, but never mind! : )**_

When the two groups, having just finished breakfast alfresco to rescue Pearl from the clutched of Iris, came back in to resume puppet-making, they found the third group sitting on the floor with an A3 sheet of paper.

"Right then. Larry – words about Larry. 3, 2, 1, go."

"Stupid."

"Artistic."

"Friendly."

"Gullible."

"Devoted."

"Romantic."

"Dramatic."

"Overly-emotional."

"OK, time's up."

Phoenix walked over to the circle. They obviously meant serious business as Trucy had taken off her cloak and hat and Edgeworth had removed his jacket. They each held a beverage of some sort in their hand – Edgeworth an iced tea, Bikini an orange juice and Trucy a lemonade.

"This looks serious," Phoenix said, crouching down beside Trucy. "What's going on here, then?"

Trucy explained that the group was brainstorming for words to describe their characters. This would help them when writing the script, which they were moving onto next.

"That's a very good idea," Phoenix said.

"Yeah, but you can't steal it or Uncle Edgey will sue," Trucy said, turning back to the list of catch phrases and activities associated with the character. She wrote, "Chords of Steel," in bold, capital letters, then put the pen down so as to rack her brain for anything else Apollo did. It was hard to _think_ of anything else.

"So, _Uncle_ Edgey," Phoenix grinned, turning to face the magenta-clad attorney. Edgeworth rolled his eyes and blamed it on society. He then sent Phoenix on his way, threatening to get a restraining order. Phoenix went back to his own group, laughing.


	22. Edgeworth's Wrath

**DISCLAIMER: **

_Capcom owns Phoenix Wright,  
__I just own this random fight._

_**This is a short chapter. I swear the puppet show will be in the next chapter!**_

The atmosphere was one of competitiveness, nerves and suspicion. Trucy, Edgeworth and Bikini sat at one end of the table, glaring at everyone and whispering to each other. Larry and Pearl sat at the other end glaring back; Iris sat with them, but she just stared at the table looking embarrassed. Phoenix, Maya and Apollo sat in between, completely indifferent to the death-stares they were being sent.

The meal of rice with a mild curry sauce was barely touched by two thirds of the diners. Trucy, Edgeworth and Bikini, who had started calling themselves the Gladiators of Xi for some unknown reason, said that as Genius Puppeteers they did not need mortal substances like food. _Maybe they're taking this puppet thing a little bit too far,_ Phoenix considered. He finally decided against arguing with the Gladiators of Xi, and left them to their diet of soft drinks and energy bars.

On the other end of the table, The Force Of Ultra picked at their food angrily. Larry glared at Edgeworth, Edgeworth glared at Larry. Neither blinked for seemingly the whole meal. When Maya announced that it was Edgeworth and Larry's turn to do the washing up, Phoenix could contain his laughter no longer.

"Pass the washing up liquid, Laurice," Edgeworth hissed.

"Here you go, Miles," Larry muttered, 'accidently' squirting washing up liquid all over his rival puppeteer's jacket.

"Never mind," Larry sneered, "It's a disgusting shade of _pink_ anyway."

"THAT'S IT, BUTZ!! FEEL MY WRATH!!"

Soon a full-scale washing up liquid war was in action. Pearl and Trucy ran in and joined them, helping build forts of plates, bowls and sponges. Soon everything and everyone in the room was covered in tomato ketchup, mustard, washing up liquid and various other kitchen necessities. The battle only came to an end when Maya came in and told everyone to prepare their puppet stages. The puppet shows were about to begin.


	23. Mr Hat's Spiritual Rebirth

DISCLAIMER: I'm not going to a poem today because this one's too long. I don't own Ace Attorney, blah blah… Anyway, the italics aren't actually being read out. It's a narration of what the audience can see. The only parts in the script are in the speech marks. If you need anymore explaining, mention it in a review or PM. Enjoy!

Six of the nine formed a semi-circle in front of the first cardboard box. The Gladiators of Xi sat on one side, the Force of Ultra on the other. A wall of saucepans separated them. The lights dimmed and the play began.

_Mr Hat's Spiritual Adventure_

_Bikini and Pearl sat under a waterfall of flimsy blue plastic, pretending to meditate. The words they said were real, because it was the Master of Kurain saying them, but nothing else was._

"Help!"_ Trucy cried, leaping out from nowhere, _"I need a spirit medium!"_ Her voice sounded almost like a young man trying to do an impression of a teenage girl, but everyone just blamed this on the twenty-four-hour bug that was going round._

"My, my, my!"_ Bikini said, turning her whole body when she only meant to turn her head, _"You need a spirit medium? Why?"

"I need to contact the dead!"_ Trucy declared. Bikini and Pearl gasped. The curtain fell and, before they knew it, they were in the immaculately detailed Summoning Room._

"My, my, my,"_ Bikini said, _"You girls discuss the channelling and I'll go make some of my trademark stew."_ She left through the imaginary door._

"So, who do you need to be channelled?"_ said Pearl in a low voice that sounded more like a man in his thirties than a girl just turned sixteen._

"I don't need the channelling! My friend here does." _Another puppet rose up and knocked Trucy's hat off onto the floor. It was as near as they could get to the mechanism of Mr Hat._

"I'm the amazing Mr Hat! You look mahvelous, dahling," _said a voice surprisingly similar to the one that had been playing Bikini not long ago._

"Who do you need to be channelled, Mr Hat?" _Pearl asked._

"My wife, Mrs Hat," _Mr Hat whispered, wiping away an imaginary tear._

_Mr Hat and Pearl stood side by side and swayed. Paper magatamas on sticks hovered behind them, and three voices hummed a mystic tune._

"Oh spirits of the dead, I call on thee to appear before me…" _said Pearl in a mysterious, monotone voice._

"Mystic Pearl: I, the spirit of Mrs Hat, appear before ye. What is you bidding?" _chorused the voice of the spirit of Mrs Hat. Obviously the connection between the two universes was faulty because Mrs Hat's voice sounded a lot like Apollo and Maya speaking in unison. A hand reached out from the floor and put a hat on Mrs Hat._

"Heeey, Mrs Hat!" _said Mr Hat, _"How's it going? Wakka wakka."

"Why did you summon me? I was watching the telly."

"I was wondering where you put the toilet roll."

"Second cupboard across from the sink."

"Thanks, dahling. Ta ta!"

"Cheerio."

_The curtain fell._

The audience clapped politely. No-one was laughing, apart from Trucy who was doubled over in utter hysterics. She was hyper from the lemonade earlier, and anything would make her laugh. Behind the stage, high fives were exchanged. Considering they had done barely any work until fifteen minutes ago, having been arguing over the size of the folding screen, that was pretty good.


	24. I Object To This Objection

DISCLAIMER:

DISCLAIMER: See last chapter's disclaimer. Same rules apply.

The semicircle moved to a different stage, swapping a few people about in the process. The Gladiators of Xi remained on one side, but the saucepan wall disappeared. Phoenix, Maya and Apollo could be trusted. After Bikini had passed round a tray of cookies, the curtain fell and the play began.

­

_I Object To This __Objection!_

_The courtroom was impressive. Iris had made the benches and stands using her wonderful origami skills; Pearl had painted the background and floor; Larry had added artistic details._

_On one side of the stage stood Phoenix. On the other, Edgeworth. Maya leaned casually on the witness stand. Just like old times. A ping pong ball on a cocktail stick represented the last-minute-made judge._

"Defendant_,_"_ Edgeworth said in a voice that sounded nothing like Edgeworth's. "_Please state your name and occupation_."_

"**OBJECTION**_!" Phoenix bellowed, "_The prosecution is badgering the defendant."

"Wright, I asked her for her name and occupation," _Edgeworth sighed._

"Objection over-ruled!" _said the judge in a voice remarkably similar to Iris's, _"Mr. Edgeworth, please do continue."

"My name is Maya Fey," _said a voice no different to the one that had been playing the judge not long ago,_ "I am the Master of Kurain Village."

"**OBJECTION!** No you're not."

"Yes I am."

"No you're not."

"I think you'll find she is, Wright," _Edgeworth intervened._

"… Oh yeah. She is."

"Objection over-ruled!" _said the judge in a voice remarkably similar to Iris's, _"Mr. Edgeworth, please continue."

"Miss Fey, please testify to the court about the night of the crime," _Edgeworth said._

"**OBJECTION! **He's badgering the witness again, your honour. I say we give him the death sentence. Or at least lock him with Wendy Oldbag for an hour or two," _Phoenix suggested._

"What do you suggest the defendant should testify about, Mr Wright?" _the judge asked._

"I say no testimony, let's just declare a not guilty and go home," _said Phoenix, waving his arms in the air for no reason._

"Mr Wright, a testimony is needed."

"OK, how about she testifies about the night of the murder?"

_Maya began her testimony with:_ "I swear I didn't kill him."

"**OBJECTION! **Yeah you did," _Phoenix yelled, slamming his hands down on the desk._

"**OBJECTION!**" _Edgeworth_ _intervened again, _"The defence is being an idiot. We need a new one."

"**OBJECTION!"**

"**OBJECTION!"**

"**OBJECTION!"**

"**OBJECTION!"**

_A puff of baby power shut them up as Maya ducked down and Mia took her place, wearing the same clothes and with the same hair._

"Hey, your honour," _she said in a flirty voice, _"She didn't do it."

"Not guilty. Court is adjourned," _the Judge said. A gavel sounded backstage. _

_The curtain fell._

This


	25. Many Types Of Love

DISCLAIMER: See past two chapters. Same rules apply.

There was more swapping in the semi circle, more glares between the two groups. The Gladiators of Xi had really gone to town on this one. The curtains, left plain by the other groups, were decorated with Kurain pictures and symbols in glitter glue. A miniature sculpture of the smiling and frowning masks of the two muses, Thalia and Melpomene, was positioned proudly on the roof over the stage. More biscuits were passed round, and the curtain lifted.

_Many Types Of Love_

_Iris stood alone by the Heavenly Hall. A book was in her hand and flour-snow flew around her, aided by the air conditioning machine. Music played in the background, the origin__ being Trucy's recorder._

"Dear diary," _said Iris in a voice that her actress had obviously been practising for incredibly hard. "_There is nothing else in this world that stings as much as unrequited love. But today I have decided that there is not point in wallowing in misery. Today, I come out of my shell. Two others are helping me. One has been in my position many times before. The other is in fact happily in love, though he won't admit it. I shall meet them later today at the main hall."

_The curtain fell. When it was raised again, Apollo was standing facing a mirror in the main hall, screaming at it. His voice was like that of an actress who had been practising, and had finally achieved her goal. In other words, spot on._

"**Here comes Justice! Objection! Look, I can see a contradiction!**" _he yelled as if he were at a football match._

"Dude, what the hell are you doing?" _said Larry in a surprisingly Larry-like voice. Obviously the actor for this role had been practising as well._

"**I'm doing my- **I, mean, I'm doing my Chords Of Steel training," _Apollo explained, turning around to face the audience._

"Why waste your time doing that, man?" _Larry asked._

"To impress Pearl. I mean, not to impress Pearl! I'm not trying to impress Pearl. How dare you say that I'm in love with Pearl."

"Sure, man, whatever you say."

"Good morning," _Iris said, walking onto the stage. Larry swooned and Apollo caught him._

"Oh dear!" _Iris exclaimed, _"Shall I get a bucket of cold water?"

"Yeah!" _Apollo yelled, going into flustered mode and running up and down the stage muttering, _"Oh God, Oh God, Oh God," _over and over to himself. Iris left swiftly._

"Dude…Apollo…what happened?" _Larry muttered, picking himself up from the floor._

"Larry! You're alive," _Apollo cried, jumping on Larry and knocking him over again. _

"Dude, get off of me."

"Sorry, Larry," _Apollo said, obeying orders, _"So, what happened back there? You just blacked out as soon as Iris walked through the door? Are feeling ill or something?"

"I'm not in love with Iris. How dare you say I'm in love with Iris. What would make you think I was in love with Iris? I'm not in love with Iris. I'm everything _but_ in love with Iris."

_They stared at each other in silence._

"Ok," _Larry admitted, _"I'm in love with Iris."

"OK, I've got a plan!" _Apollo decided. He went over to Larry and began whispering in his ear. Larry nodded his head as Apollo explained. They were still discussing the plan as the curtain dropped._

_When it rose again, the room was empty. A tiny foaled up note sat in the middle of the floor. Iris walked in._

"What's this?" _She bent over and picked the note up. _"Iris – meet me at heavenly Hall. Hmm – meet who at Heavenly Hall? I don't recognise the handwriting. I'll go and check it out."

_The curtain fell as Iris left the stage. It was down for quite some time, but when it rose, the audience gasped._

_Larry the puppet was now wearing a white tuxedo, holding a miniature red rose. Flowers covered the floor and spelt out a message on the opposite cliff. Iris walked on set and gasped also. She read out the message._

"Iris, I love you, from Larry? What's going on?"

"Iris, I've been wanting to say this to you for ages. Seven years, in fact. I couldn't get enough flowers to do the _real_ mountain, but I could get enough daisies to do a puppet show. What do you say?"

"Larry, I-"

_She was cut off by Apollo yelling Chords Of Steel, then apologising. The curtain fell there. __A puppet Gumshoe stumbled onto the roof of the stage. His voice was almost perfect, and a man's voice for sure._

"Hey, pals. I'm here for an epilogue. What you've just seen is the truth, the absolute truth and nothing but the truth. Larry tipped us off about the Iris plot, and the Apollo bit is sort of obvious. Larry is awaiting Iris's reply whenever she is prepared to give it. We hope you enjoyed the play. Bye, pals!"

Pearl clapped like crazy. Phoenix, Maya and Apollo clapped a little less eccentrically, but enthusiastically all the same. Iris and Larry just blushed and stared at each other. Behind the stage, the Gladiators of Xi cracked open a bottle of lemonade. Mission accomplished.


	26. Plots

DISCLAIMER:

A story of coffee and bracelets and magic,

Of characters so OTT.

But then, in true fact, though it's so tragic,

None of it belongs to me.

WARNING: Gah! AJ **and **T&T spoilers in this chapter! Run!!

WATER SORCERER: I'd just like to apologise. I was trying to be nice to Iris and sort of, kind of, paired her off with Larry…who you hate…sorry!

"OK, everyone clear out – leave Larry and Iris on their own. Come on, get out." Trucy stood by the door, directing everyone outside. Iris and Larry were left on their own.

"Hey! Edgeworth," Phoenix hissed, "Get over here and help me spy on Larry." The two men sidled up to the window and stared at their old school friend. Nothing much was happening. They were just talking nervously.

"Oi! Daddy and Uncle Edgey! Stop spying," Trucy yelled angrily. Edgeworth and Phoenix followed the crowd back to the spare room, sulking like moody children.

"So, she only met you a day or two ago and now you're Uncle Edgey? What's with that?" Phoenix asked with a laugh.

"Oh, you know Trucy better than I do. I was Uncle Edgey as soon as she knew who I was."

Phoenix nodded in agreement. The moment Trucy's father disappeared, Phoenix had become Daddy. No hesitation. He was Daddy, so in some bizarre Trucy plot, this made Edgeworth Uncle Edgey. It all made sense in the young girl's head.

The two males of the pack lagged behind. In the middle of the procession, Maya and Bikini were arguing over whether Bikini could serve her stew at some Kurain ritual. Trucy and Pearl were out in front, leading the way to wherever they were going. Of course, the two girls had no idea where they were going, and it didn't even cross there minds that they could be going somewhere in particular.

"Trucy, that was wonderful! So romantic," Pearl said with a wistful sigh. "I'm so glad you did that for her. I don't like Iris, but I don't like seeing _anyone_ unhappy, especially no my own half sister. Oh, I hope it works out."

"I'm sure it will. They're both as gullible as each other – they deserve each other. There was, of course, the _other_ lovely couple mentioned in our play," Trucy said, raising an eyebrow and smiling smugly. Pearl turned bright red.

"I don't know what you're talking about. We'll speak no more about it."

"Whatever you say – _Mrs Justice_!"

"No, no, no!" Pearl squealed, covering her ears. "I'm not listening!"

Trucy laughed, but kindly dropped the subject. She slowed her walking speed, allowing the two arguing spirit mediums to catch up with them. The two girls joined in their squabble easily, immediately taking Maya's side, lying that Bikini's stew was far too good to share with just anyone.


	27. Triple

DISCLAIMER: No poem today, I've got too much to say. There, that was basically a poem. Anyway, this is, I personally think, a pretty poor chapter. The characters are too OOC and the plot is weak. Whatever, it's just a joining chapter to the next one. Also, I'm holding a random contest to find out what the second song on Phoenix's IPod is! (See story) Put your suggestion in a review. When I've finished the story, I'll add another chapter saying who has won, if anyone bothers at all. Your prize will be that chapter. Enjoy!

"My, my, my. That was a long walk," an out-of-breath Bikini exclaimed. They had walked all the way across Kurain to one of the spare rooms. It was getting dark, and the group huddled round a campfire just outside the spare room. Bikini poured and passed round some herbal tea in the teapot. Each person handed it to the next in the circle.

"Sure was!" Trucy agreed, "Here's the teapot, Daddy." She held it out to where Daddy was sitting, but didn't glance away from the fire, enthralled by the oranges, reds and yellows that danced around the centre. _The Phoenix will rise from the ashes,_ she thought. _Shame Daddy didn't rise from his ashes._

It took her a minute or two to realise that Daddy wasn't taking the teapot.

This was mostly because Daddy wasn't there.

_Triple_

"I can't believe we're doing this, Wright."

"Believe it, Edgeworth." _(Author's Notes)_

They heard the door open and close gently. Ten seconds later, the door was flung open and slammed shut. That was their cue.

"Hey! Larry!" Phoenix hissed. "We're over here."

"Huh? Oh, guys! What are you doing here? Hey, are you _spying_ on me."

"Spying isn't quite the right word, Larry," Edgeworth said. "I'd say we were…well, we were…yes, we were spying on you."

Larry laughed and joined his friends on the bench. Phoenix was listening to his broken IPod. It would still play music, but the screen was broke. This meant you could listen to the songs, but you wouldn't know what they were. This didn't really bother Phoenix, who only had two songs due to having no money to buy any more. He was currently listening to Caramelldansen.

Edgeworth folded up his newspaper that he had been reading by the light of his mobile phone. He put it under the bench and turned to Phoenix and Larry. Phoenix turned the IPod off with some difficulty, having to thwack it on the armrest before it would turn off.

"So, how did it go?" the ex-attorney said with that I-don't-give-a-damn smile.

"Could have gone better, could have gone worse. She said she'll think about it. That usually means no, but I have hope, man."

"You have too much hope and not enough logic," Edgeworth said, rolling his eyes.

"What's logic?"

The three friends argued there way back to the row of guest rooms, where they yelled goodbye angrily and stomped back to their own rooms scowling to collect evidence or, in Larry's case, fantasize about Iris.

_(Author's Notes) _ I swear this isn't what you think it is!!


	28. The Toothbrush Heads Of Doom

DISCLAIMER: I, like, don't, like, own, like, Ace, like, Attorney

DISCLAIMER: I, like, don't, like, own, like, Ace, like, Attorney. Anyway, don't forget to enter the contest from the previous chapter! I would have uploaded this yesterday, but , as much as I love it, broke down on me and refused to let me log in. Did any one else have this problem?

Phoenix, Edgeworth, Maya, Bikini, Trucy, Apollo and Pearl were all woken by the alarms they had set the night before. This was not unexpected as this is what alarms do. Go figure.

The plan had come to exist the night before. Eleven pm, everyone was curled up in bed, ready for a good night's sleep. Trucy decided that, no, they would _not_ have a good night's sleep. In order to stop them having a good night's sleep, she banged on their windows, making sure not to stir Larry or Iris from their dreams of unicorns and super models. No prizes for guessing which was which.

Phoenix was in his pyjamas, plugged into his Ipod. He was playing his second song, not Caramelldansen. The song was…

"Daddy! Get up! Now!" Trucy hissed, throwing a toothbrush head through the window. She had stopped to grab some ammo in the bathroom. Toothbrush heads were perfect for throwing through slightly open windows, and they were streamlined too.

Phoenix stumbled outside, clutching his head as if he were ten times as tired as he really was. It was, of course, an act to try to get her to sympathize and let him go back to bed. It didn't work. She just gave him a handful of toothbrush heads and told him to wake Maya and Edgeworth.

Edgeworth closed his eyes, settling down for dreams of guilty verdicts and nightmares of Wendy Oldbag. He was just about to leave that void between being awake and being asleep when he felt something land on his head.

He stopped to consider why a toothbrush head was lying on the sheet next to him, when he heard a familiar voice telling him that Trucy was holding a meeting outside and that he'd better hurry up. He sighed and climbed out of bed, tying his designer dressing gown over his silk magenta pyjamas. It was best to do what Trucy told him to do.

After half an hour of forcing Apollo out of bed kicking and screaming, they all assembled in a spare training hall. Trucy stood up to address the group. She explained the plan.

Now, the plan was put into action. Everyone arrived for breakfast early and sat in their allocated seats. They were to sit there for up to five hours. This was going to be one long breakfast.

Immediately, Apollo fell asleep his cereal. Trucy grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, pulled him out of his cereal and plonked his head down on the table. Hard. His head hurt, but at least he hadn't come to an untimely end by drowning.

Two hours later, they were still sitting there. They were playing hangman with some marmalade on toast. Trucy was threatening Apollo with a butter knife, saying she would chop off the antennas on his head unless he gave her a clue, when Iris flew through the door. Metaphorically, of course.

She sat down in one of the two empty seats and tucked into her croissant and raspberry jam. The other breakfasters stared at her as if she were part of some spirit mediums zoo, but she was so deep in thought she didn't even notice.

Twenty minutes she stood up to leave, but Trucy and Pearl immediately stood up, offering her fruit and toast and begging her to join in their conversation about the price of magatamas and silk hats. She gave in when the girls automatically turned on the puppy-dog eyes at the same time. It was just too cute.

Larry trudged in an hour later. He grabbed a plate of waffles and stomped over to his usual seat in between Phoenix and Miles.

"Hey, where's my chair gone? Where have _all_ the chairs gone? There used to be twelve, now there's only…er…Edgey, help me out here."

"Nine."

"Yeah! So where have they gone?"

"There's still one next to Iris," Phoenix said, smiling a devious smile. Larry raised an eyebrow.

"Nick, that smile's a little too devious even for me. What have you done, dude?"

Apollo suddenly slammed the table and burst into tears.

"I can't take it! I'm cracking under the pressure! Larry, it's true. It's all true. We planned everything, we're guilty! We deserve the death sentence, we-"

Everyone stood up all of a sudden and ran towards the door. Trucy dragged the sobbing Apollo along with them. Larry and Iris looked bewildered. They ran after them, but arrived at the door too late.

"We're going to barricade you in here until you've agreed that you're perfect for each other. To be nice, we'll cancel all activities for the morning – but if you aren't a happy couple by this afternoon, you'll stay in here and we'll go kite-flying without you." Trucy smiled a devious smile. She sure did take after her daddy.


	29. Sketching Under The Blossom Tree

DISCLAIMER: Yeah, yeah, don't own Ace Attorney

DISCLAIMER: Yeah, yeah, don't own Ace Attorney. Don't forget to enter my competition (See Chapter Triple) – what's the second song on Nick's Ipod? You decide!

Trucy and Pearl sat on a bench looking miserable because Phoenix had told them they couldn't spy on Larry and Iris. Nearby, Edgeworth and Apollo discussed how the majority of people these days lacked decent fashion sense. Everyone had simultaneously yelled objection when Bikini announced that she was going to make her trademark stew. Unfortunately, no-one could think of a decent excuse, so she decided to make it anyway, and now stood in the corner of the beautifully decorated courtyard, toiling over her stove.

Maya and Phoenix sat under a blossom tree, much to Trucy and Pearl's delight. Maya held a sketch pad in her hand and worked on a sketch of a flower. She refused to show Phoenix the drawing though, saying it was one of her duties to sketch stuff and that she mustn't be disturbed. This didn't stop her nattering away to him the whole time.

"So, Pearls has a job, huh?" Phoenix interrupted, sick of hearing about the advert that was shot only two miles away from Kurain Village that had nothing to do with Maya but was still, apparently, her fifteen minutes of fame.

"Oh, yeah! It's really awesome, because it's actually a Kurain run shop. I didn't know that, but apparently it is, so all of Pearly's days off run perfectly with the Kurain calendar. And there's the staff discounts! I mean, I'm the Master, but I don't get _paid_ for it! I get profit from the visits to Kurain, sure, but still. They do some really pretty magatamas there, too, and Pearl got me the cutest ring! I mean, I never wear it, but it's the owning that counts, not the wearing. Nick, are you listening? NICK!?"

"What? Huh? Oh, yeah."

Maya sighed and rolled her eyes impatiently. Phoenix smiled a nervous smile and laughed a nervous laugh. The Master of Kurain was supposed to be calm and spiritual and all that, but this was _Maya_.

"It's alright, Nick. I forgive you. Sort of. But now you owe me an ice cream, so if ever we pass and ice cream van or something, you have to buy me one. Even if we're running from some serial killer or something, we still have to stop and get an ice cream. Deal?"

"Why would we be running from a serial killer? I've given up all that stuff. Anyway, I can't afford ice cream anymore. You can buy your own."

"Nick, you're _so_ mean!" Maya whined, turning on the puppy dog eyes. It had been seven years, but she still had that special talent of making him feel guilty.

"Ok," he sighed, "I'll buy you an ice cream. But only if we're running from a serial killer and happen to pass an ice cream van, right?"

Maya laughed and nodded in agreement. She turned back to her drawing, adding the finishing touches, and showed it up to Phoenix. He frowned and looked at her in confusion. She hadn't _quite_ been drawing a flower.

"Maya," he said, "Objection-Man and Magatama-Girl?"


	30. He's Just A Lemon

DISCLAIMER:

DISCLAIMER:

Leave a contest entry in your review,

Along with any confusions and queries!

But just before chapter, by law I must tell you,

I still don't own the Ace Attorney series.

"OK, you two, have you made your decision?" Trucy yelled through the thick, wooden door. Pearl and Maya clutched each other's hands with nerves and curiosity. Miles and Phoenix stood solemnly, fearing for their school friend's sanity should anything go wrong. Apollo wandered around in small circles nearby, looking distracted. This wasn't quite his cup of tea.

"Yes," Iris replied, "We've made our decision. Our verdict is…"

Apollo wandered back and started to sing some tension music. Phoenix clutched Edgeworth's arm, causing the magenta-clad prosecutor to recoil and thwack into the opposite wall. Phoenix later blamed it on the heat of the moment.

"We're going to give it a go, dude!" Larry said with glee. Everyone cheered as Trucy un-barricaded the door and released the two love birds from their cage. They came out holding hands, smiling and waving. It was like a royal wedding.

"What do you think of that, Nick?" Maya said, wiping away a tear of joy. "Looks like Larry's finally found a soul mate."

"Yeah, this stuff always happens. It's too stereotypical for me – it can't possibly last."

To Phoenix's surprise, he found himself being pushed across the room into the wall. Maya had gone red in the face with anger, and she was holding back the tears. These tears were _not_ of joy.

"Nick, you always have to take the _logical_ side, the _realistic_ side. Can't you just be a little more superstitious, spiritual, spontaneous, _romantic_ even. You used to be like this back then, but you would still let the passion for justice shine through. Now you're just a…a…a **lemon**!"

She waved away his protests casually and turned her back to go and join the crowd of cheering celebrators who were mobbing Larry and Iris. Edgeworth was warning Iris against all of Larry's faults, reading out the whole long list from memory. Pearl was begging to be a bridesmaid. No-one had noticed the burst of rage that had occurred moments before, and no-one noticed Phoenix now, leaning in the corner, glaring on with jealous eyes.

_Author's Notes:_

Oooo – Phoenix's **dark side**. A little OOC, maybe. A lemon – that's my _favourite_ insult ever.


	31. Mission Matchmaker

Note To Justis – Phoenix was jealous because Larry was happily in love with Iris, and Nick was a loner. You know our Nick! He can get a little moody sometimes…

Sehr short chapter this time! Next one will be longer, I hope!

DISCLAIMER: (Seriously, only rhymes I could find)  
This question may seem slightly odd,  
But what's a song on Nick's Ipod?  
Own AA? Oh, silly sod,  
That's owned by the Capcom squad!

Dips and salads were in bowls along the table, and each person had two large pita breads each. Apart from a small fight between Trucy and Apollo over a bowl of guacamole, everyone seemed cheerful enough. Phoenix seemed less enthusiastic than always, participating as little as possible in conversation, but after a few whispered words with Maya he brightened up a bit.

After lunch, Trucy and Pearl pulled Maya aside and asked her sharply what had happened. She looked quite surprised, but after remember the old "Mystic Maya's Special Someone" thing from many years ago, she spilled the beans.

"Nick and I had a little tiff. I was apologising, and he apologised too. It's nothing important, Pearly, so don't worry. Now let go of my arm and we'll go fly a kit!" she laughed. Pearl dropped her firm grip on her cousin's arm and she joined the group. Pearl and Trucy lagged behind, muttering to each other.

"What do you _really_ think it was about? The argument, I mean," Trucy said.

"I don't know. Maybe he was jealous of Larry and Mystic Iris! We should investigate or something."

"Yeah. That's a good idea. You watch Maya, I'll watch Daddy." They shook hands, and the mission began. Mission Matchmaker.


	32. Soaring

DISCLAIMER:

I didn't invent the kite,  
I don't own Phoenix Wright.

* * *

"I'm starting to get suspicious of those two," Edgeworth said in a lowered voice. Bikini nodded.

"It's odd they've grouped together," she agreed. "I understand why Larry and Iris are going off in a twosome as well – that's obvious. Phoenix and Mystic Maya have much to catch up on, and Apollo needs to be with someone he knows. Trucy is too busy with her new friend to care about him, so those three have grouped together. But Pearl and Trucy are both lively young girls who love to be part of the group. It's not like them to cut themselves off from everyone else."

"Maybe it's normal. Maybe it's just because they're both teenage girls with similar interests and connections, you know?"

Bikini nodded, but didn't seem convinced. She was sure they were plotting something. They carried on steadily up the hill. It was a small hill, and not steep, but it was still no easy task for Bikini to climb it. They were quiet for a bit, until Edgeworth spoke up.

"And us. We've broken off from the group because we are both wiser than them, I suppose. We see past the obvious, think outside the box."

"Yes," Bikini said with a laugh, "And we're both gossips."

* * *

"Right, then," Trucy said, "The plan's sorted. Now to put it into action."

"Mr Nick! Mystic Maya!" Pearl shouted, "We'll be back in ten minutes! We left something down in the village." The two girls turned to run down the hill. Trucy tripped and ended up rolling down, but a few grass stains made no difference.

They ran across the village, ignoring the spirit mediums who got in their way. Skidding round the corner as if they were escaping a psychopathic criminal, they found themselves in a storage room. It took quite some time, but finally they found what they needed among that piles of junk.

"Are you sure this will work?" Trucy asked.

"Of course," Pearl said confidently, "I've practised it a million times. Of course, that was with a hairdryer, but it's the same concept. After all, I've been matchmaking for Mystic Maya and Mr Nick for nine years now." She beamed with pride at this wonderful achievement.

It wasn't easy to drag the wind machine up the hill, but a kind wheelbarrow helped them out. Trucy & Pearl – Schemers Extraordinaire. They could accomplish any task as long as it was completely ridiculous.

They positioned the wind machine so it was directly in line with the kites. The others were on the opposite hill, slightly lower down. Luckily, Pearl had doodled on the kites during a day trip eight years ago. She knew Maya's kite to be the one with a purple butterfly on it and Phoenix's to be the one with a green squirrel on it.

Pearl stood behind the wind machine to work the controls while Trucy stood by the side of it, armed with a massive tub of glitter. The counted down from three and turned the machine on.

* * *

Iris was the first to notice. She gasped and pointed up. Everyone's gaze followed.

The kites danced in the wind, their strings twisting together. A snowstorm of glitter swirled around them. the whole performance was a combination of Trucy and Pearl's talents: spiritual and magical.

"Like two hearts intertwined," Bikini said, causing Phoenix and Maya to blush even redder. On the distant hill, Pearl and Trucy exchanged a high five and yelled mission complete. Luckily, no-one heard them.

* * *

_Author's Notes_

_Everyone say awww. Poor old Feenie, he must be embarrassed out of his mind. But of course, Pearl and Trucy don't give a damn about that. They're too concerned about their cliché matchmaking! :D R&R, people!_


	33. Drawing Board

Ode To A DISCLAIMER:

Ode To A DISCLAIMER:

Disclaimer, you are so annoying,

Frustrating and so time destroying,

Always with my mind you're toying,

And there are no more rhymes…oying.

Maya walked up an down the stone floor. The tapping of her sandals beat out a slow yet tension-building rhythm. Trucy and Pearl sat on the bench in front of her, staring solemnly at the floor. So much for the big plan. They'd been caught at the first hurdle.

"Well, girls," the Master said. "What do you have to say for yourself?" They just kept staring at the floor. Pearl had never been in trouble like this before. She had never seen Mystic Maya so angry before.

"Pearl, Trucy, you humiliated me and Phoenix. I will ask you again, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Trucy muttered something inaudible. Maya leaned in and asked her what she had just said. Pearl was shaking with fear.

"I said that it was funny. It was a joke. We were trying to help."

"Help with what?" Maya asked sternly.

"That's pretty obvious!" Trucy giggled. Pearl couldn't help but giggle too. Perhaps this battle wasn't quite over yet.

"Yes, Mystic Maya! You and Mr Nick are _perfect_ for each other. I've always said that."

"You know, you'd make an awesome mommy. I'd be a Fey then!"

Pearl and Trucy went back into their fantasy-family mode, discussing barbecues and sledges, and trying to figure out where they would get that yacht. Maya just blushed. Very much indeed.

"You know, Mystic Maya," Pearl said, "I think you need to be more open with you feelings. You'll get nowhere by bottling them up. Just express your love to Mr Nick with a card or a balloon or a pony!"

"A pony?" Maya said, confused.

"What? Ponies are cute."

"Look, Pearly, he…doesn't feel the same…just leave it. There's nothing between us. Please, just forget about it."

She left the girls alone. They looked at each other and sighed.

"Back to the drawing board," Trucy said.


	34. I'm Back, And So Is She

DISCLAIMER: I have walked across hot coals and fought fire-breathing dragons to get back to you guys, and victory is mine. So here's what you've all been waiting for: the next chapter of Everyone Loves Shopping. And, after all this time, I still don't own Ace Attorney.

Phoenix crossed off another day another day on the desk calendar. That he carried around with him. Each month had a particularly garish picture of a flower on it. This month's flower was a zoomed-in picture of a daffodil, so yellow that it hurt your eyes. However, Phoenix's philosophy remained the same: why buy something of fairly good quality when you can something pathetic free? True, it wasn't much of a philosophy, but it saved money.

There wasn't much time left. Only two days and then, poof! The week was gone. Maya was constantly busy. She had no time for dead-end pianists.

He glanced away from the daffodil, hearing a knock on the door. _Probably_ _Trucy coming for a bedtime story, _he thought. Trucy, despite being in her mid-teens, still loved hearing his stories. She didn't believe them, of course. As if a prosecutor would drink seventeen cups of coffee per trial; and there was no way that Daddy had met an assassin.

However, it was Trucy standing by the door. It was her partner-in-crime, Pearl. Before Phoenix could open his mouth to ask what she was doing there, she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him along the corridor and outside into the crisp night air.

Despite her prisoner's protest, Pearl carried on until they were inside the main hall. She opened the door to the channelling hall, indicating that he should go in. He shuffled nervously inside.

Maya was sitting in the middle of the floor wearing her channelling robes. Her hair was loose behind her, and she sat in a mediating position, her eyes closed.

"Sit," she said simply in a very un-Maya-like fashion. It was more like the Master than the chirpy teenager than Phoenix had once known. He had changed, and naturally she had too.

He followed her orders, despite feeling very out of place in his cheap grey-and-blue pyjamas. A shudder went down his spine as he remembered the last time he had been here when he was investigating a murder. As far as he could see, the only thing different was that there was no bloodstain on the floor. Hopefully.

A strong smell of herbs and spices filled the room and Phoenix's eyes started watering. He couldn't resist the temptation to rub them, and when the smell and pain in his eyes had gone, he opened them again. He smiled. How had he known this was going to happen?

"Hi there, Chief. It's been a long time."

She laughed and put her hair behind her ear. She'd never been fond of Maya's choice of hairstyle.

"Well, well, Phoenix Wright. Judging by the hair, Maya brought me here. Did the same person bring you here?"

"No. A train brought me here."

"Of course. Might I ask why you're wearing that bizarre outfit?"

"These are my pyjamas. I'm on a low budget."

"Law not paying so well?"

"Well, actually…yeah. Yeah, that's right. I've helping out friends lately, and you know friends. Always reluctant to pay up."

"I know what you mean. I went through that phase, too. That one time you refused to pay up."

"Ah, but that was only because I had no money. I'd spent it all on fancy restaurants and diamond necklaces. Well, maybe not quite diamond."

"Fine, fine, I forgive you. So, what's happening in the world of the living? What's that hanging round your neck? A locket, if I'm correct."

"You're correct, as always." He opened the locket and showed her the photo. "My daughter, Trucy."

"Daughter?"

"Adopted. One of clients disappeared and left her in the lurch. I took over."

"Good work. How long has she been living with you?"

"Seven years."

"Is that how long it's been since we last met?"

"Yeah. Seven years, coming up to eight."

"You do look older."

"Oh, thanks a lot. You haven't changed a bit."

"The dead never do. Oh, time's running out. I'll be going now. Bye, Phoenix."

"Goodbye, chief."

The smell and the stinging eyes returned, and when he opened them, Mia was gone. He said goodnight to Maya and went back to his room as if nothing had happened.


	35. Perfect Match

DISCLAIMER:

I've realised that since I'm back in,  
I really need to quit this slacking.  
So here's the next bit of this sitcom,  
The characters belong to Capcom.

_This is more of a filler, don't worry. I'm sort of experimenting with madness. Don't worry; this will have no effect on the plot what so ever._

Miles was the first person down at breakfast. He had always been an early riser, arriving at the breakfast table at 6:30. He sipped his cup of tea while browsing for the latest on the forums.

"Good morning, Uncle Edgey!" Trucy chirruped, plonking her chocolaty cereal down on the table beside his plate of toast.

"Good morning, Trucy," he replied, slightly less enthusiastically. He was too busy blocking someone named "demonprosecutor" who kept sending him annoying messages, every hour, on the hour.

"What are you looking at, Uncle Edgey?" Trucy asked leaning over his shoulder.

"N-nothing," Edgeworth replied, quickly disposing of the M rated story on the screen by clicking on the nearest advert. They both screamed as a dating website arrived as a pop-up.

"U-Uncle Edgey! Turn it off!"

He was about to press the off button when he noticed a picture on the website that caught his eye: a lady of about his age by the name of Millie. Her profile said she was a prosecutor and that she had a phobia of earthquakes. The photo showed a stern looking woman with black hair and a magenta trouser suit. She wore a white ruffled blouse and her cold, grey eyes showed no sign of emotion. Edgeworth's heart skipped a beat.

After emailing her, he was about to turn the laptop off again when Trucy stopped him.

"Uncle Edgey, how old do you have to be to go on this site?"

"Um…fourteen, by the looks of things. Which is much too young, in my opinion."

She pushed him out of the way and sat down in front of the laptop. After typing in some very specific specifics, she received what the site called her, "Perfect Match." Truman Galactica was fifteen, loved magic and had a puppet called Mrs Hat. His bright green cape and hat matched his energetic smile. Trucy didn't hesitate to press the email button.

Edgeworth and Trucy were laughing about how everyone had a perfect match when the doors flung open and Phoenix shuffled in looking tired.

"Hey, what are you two up to?" he asked as he shovelled cereal into a bowl.

"Nothing," Edgeworth said quickly.

"Nothing suspicious," Trucy agreed. The simultaneously crossed their arms and leaned on one side, trying to look innocent. Phoenix just shrugged and ate his cereal. No-one ever spoke of it again.

* * *

__

Notes:

This was random. It's just that I'd promised Trucy a boyfriend in a previous chapter and Edgeworth was lonely. So, there we go. Truman and Millie. Oooh, that's imaginative.

* * *


	36. Nice One, Polly

DISCLAIMER: Oh, the cave, a bored writer's best friend. I don't own Ace Attorney and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

The walk to the beach was long and tiresome. Bikini had managed to skive it with a sudden headache, but Phoenix found himself holding all of the bags apart from Edgeworth's. Pearl and Trucy skipped ahead, dragging Apollo with them; Larry and Iris walked about a metre behind then; Maya breathed in the fresh air alone, occasionally twirling around; and Phoenix and Miles lagged behind. They didn't speak a word until Miles finally spoke up.

"Wri- I mean, Phoenix. I just wanted you to know that…well…we were school friends and all, and if there's anything you ever wanted to say…then…you can confide in me."

Phoenix laughed underneath the weight of a million rucksacks. He couldn't see his friend, but by the sound of his voice he could tell that he was probably blushing the colour of his suit. _Poor guy_, Phoenix thought, _it's so awkward for him._"Don't worry. I haven't got any dark secrets. Have you got any? Anymore, I mean."

Miles's mind flickered back to breakfast. He felt the colour draining from his face. Luckily, Phoenix couldn't see that. Dark secrets – did that count as a dark secret? The dating site wasn't important. What was important was that a) he'd found someone and b) he'd let Trucy on the site. He shivered at the thought of telling her father. What would Phoenix's reaction be?

"Well, Edgeworth? Are you hiding something?"

"Umm…no."

Phoenix chuckled under his breath. Miles obviously didn't remember the magatama.

"Oh boy! The _beach_! It's so…so…beachy!" Trucy ran round in circles and attempted a cartwheel. Attempted, but did not succeed – however, she didn't let in bother her, and carried on running round. She scrambled on rocks, jumped in the sea and admired rock pools with awe.

_You'd have thought she was six,_ Maya thought, until she remembered what she was like only seven years ago. She stood by the sea and watched the waves. Seven years ago seemed so far away. She was a different person now. She'd promised herself that she wouldn't change, that she wouldn't let the Master get to her head. But the years went by and he didn't come back.

A scream came from the other side of the beach. Pearl had seen a fish in a rock pool and was now dragging Trucy and Apollo over to stare at it. Larry and Iris were sitting on a rock, talking. Miles and Phoenix were skipping stones and talking about school.

Soon after, Larry joined Apollo, Trucy and Pearl in their water fight. It was more of an Apollo vs everyone else water fight, but it was still fun. His reaction was to die for. Iris went to talk to Maya, where they acted polite and pretended that they cared about what the other was talking about.

A sudden gust of wind blew Phoenix's hat into the sea. He sighed and, without hesitation, waded in after it. While he was gone, a yell came from behind some rocks.

"Daddy! Uncle Edgey! Come see this!"

Edgeworth strode over to where Trucy, Pearl and Larry were ignoring Apollo, who was screaming something about logic.

"Look, Uncle Edgey! It's a _cave_!" Trucy looked very pleased with herself. "Let's go inside!"

"Trucy, that doesn't look stable!" But Edgeworth's words fell on deaf ears, because Trucy, Pearl and Larry were already inside the cave. A sudden panic fell on the two attorneys left outside and they ran in after them.

"Trucy," Apollo hissed, grabbing her arm. "Get out of here right now. I'll count to ten. One…two…three…four…hey, are you listening to me?" His voice echoed and a rumbling noise came from above them. Everyone looked up.

CRASH! They spun round to see a wall of rocks where the entrance used to be.

"Oh, nice one, Polly."


	37. Perfect Picture

DISCLAIMER: The characters are Capcom's, the cave is mine. Do not touch the cave or I will sue you. It's mine.

"Hey! Look, guys: it's a cave!" Larry scrambled up the rocks and stumbled towards the opening of the cave. To a fully grown person, it was a fairly small one, but to the three nine year old boys, it was massive, mysterious and just waiting to be explored.

"Wow," Phoenix said, appearing behind Larry. "It's like a black hole waiting to swallow explorers."

"You think?" Larry said, "It reminds me more of my history teacher's mouth."

A panting sound came from behind them. They turned to see the third member of the trio dragging himself over the rock. He lay there for a while, catching his breath, only getting up when Larry went over and kicked him.

"What is it?" Miles asked, still panting slightly. "What have we found?"

"It's a cave," Larry explained triumphantly, "And we're going to explore it. Let's go in, guys!" He started running towards the cave, then came to an abrupt halt when he realised that neither friend was following.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked, spinning around.

"It doesn't look very safe, does it?" Miles observed, staring at the cave nervously.

"M-maybe we should l-listen to M-Miles," Phoenix stuttered, "H-he's usually r-right."

Larry stared from one friend to the other. His jaw fell to the ground, his eyes were like planets. There was an awkward silence until Larry's eyes narrowed and his lips became thin. He grabbed the two boys by their arms and dragged them into the cave.

"Wow!" he exclaimed, "This place is awesome! I say we live here."

"L-live here?"

"W-what do you mean?"

"We should live here! Some mattresses, a TV, a fridge – it'll be as good as home!"

Phoenix and Miles stared at each other. There was that feeling again, a slight change in the atmosphere that meant that Larry had just had a very bad idea. They opened their mouths:

"OBJECTION!!"

Their voices echoed and a rumbling sound came from above them. Everyone looked up.

CRASH! They span round to see a wall of rocks where the entrance used to be.

"Oh, nice one, guys."

They sat in the corner. It was cold, dusty and dark. Everyone was regretting coming into the cave now.

"Well, look on the bright side!" Larry said with a grin. "At least…er…none of us are scared of us are scared of caves!"

"I am," Phoenix whispered, but he wasn't heard.

"Phobias are irrational," Miles said calmly. "I don't have any, and I never will. I had a friend who was frightened of earthquakes. I understand being scared of life-threatening earthquakes, but minor ones? It's just stupid."

He realised that no-one was listening to him and fell silent. Someone would be along to rescue them soon.

An hour passed. Larry handed out some mints, but the rumbling of stomachs could still be heard. Miles glanced at the wall of rocks. He frowned. Someone should be here by now.

Another hour and another; soon, four hours had gone by. Phoenix was huddled in a ball under his anorak, but not sleeping. Larry was playing with a stone. Miles paced up and down, agitated. They would be here soon. They had to be.

Finally, he heard voices from outside.

"This is all your fault, you know. That kid, he's trouble. He acts all prim and proper, but he's trouble really."

"Please, we're trying to find them. If you want someone to blame, add your Larry to the top of the list. Miles is far too sensible to get lost on a beach, and Phoenix wouldn't do anything like that without encouragement. Found anything, Greg?"

"Sorry, Wright, nothing. Maybe we should- wait!"

"What? What have you found?"

"An inhaler! Is this Larry's? He's gratified on it."

"Larry? No son of mine would need an inhaler. We're all strong, as fit as fiddles."

"Hey! This is Phoenix's! I swear, Butz, if Larry defaces any more of my son's stuff, I'll…I'll…I don't know. I'll sue."

"I'll be your lawyer."

"Thanks, Greg."

All three boys jumped up and started yelling. The three father outside span round and ran over. Soon everyone was reunited.

"Wow, Dad! You spent all this time looking for me?"  
"Of course, Phoenix – I'd run across a burning bridge to make sure my little lad was OK."  
"No-one would do something like that, Dad."

"Little dude, are you OK?"  
"Sure, pa! I kept my wits about me and kept us all going."  
"Good work, kid."

"Father, can we sue God for making the cave?"  
"Um…I'll see. Now, we'd better go home. Shall I read you another bedtime case file tonight?"  
"Can we have the one about the serial arsonist who got murdered?"  
"Sure."

A perfect picture. It was never going to last.


	38. Never Over

DISCLAIMER: Ich eige nicht Ace Attorney. Oh yes, my German is amazing, as is the internet translator. Sorry is I used the wrong verb, blame the translator. Enjoy the chapter!

"Uncle Edgey?" Trucy put her arm around Edgeworth, who was cowering in the corner of the cave. Larry came over and crouched down next to him. He motioned fpr  
Trucy to go over to the others on the opposite side of the cave.

"Edgey, don't worry, man. You don't need to be scared anymore. All that's over."

"DL-6 is _never_ over."

Trucy tugged on Apollo's sleeve.

"Polly, what's happening?" Apollo simply shook his head in response. He'd read the case file and heard everything first hand from Phoenix. He had been told not to tell Trucy. It was the one case her father didn't want her to know about. "Sentimental purposes," he had said.

Trucy next looked up to Pearl, who also shook her head. Maya had said the exact same to her.

Pouting, Trucy shuffled over to the corner of the cave. Why were they keeping this from her? She'd find out. No-one could keep secrets from Trucy Wright.

Apollo and Pearl started whispering to each other in the same hushed voices as Uncle Larry and Uncle Edgey. Trucy's face went beetroot red with anger. She sat down and sulked, examining the cave at the same time. There was just enough light to see by. It wouldn't be long before Daddy came by and rescued them.

An hour later, everyone sat as far away from each other. No-one spoke. It was getting darker and harder to see. Larry had handed out some mints, but the rumbling of stomachs could be heard. Someone had to come by soon.

Another two hours passed. It was 4:20 now. No-one was speaking. Trucy felt her eyes getting heavy. A few minutes wouldn't hurt.

She was woken at an unknown time by angry voices outside the cave.

"This is your fault! You never take care of anyone, you just brush them aside. You can't handle your responsibilities– it's as if you're scared of commitment, scared of _life_! You weren't always like this."

"Hypocrite! You've never had any responsibility in your life!"

"I'm the Master of Kurain!"

"That's just a title. Try being a single parent, a talentless loser with next to no job, a rejected attorney with nothing left. And there's nothing I can do about it."

Before the second speaker could respond, Trucy yelled out, waking everyone else in the cave as well. Finally, their imprisonment had come to an end.

The police search party that had been called out hacked into the cave and released them. Trucy expected a happier reunion – the police were angry, Maya was angry and Phoenix just stared at the sky. Iris had gone home to talk to the police about where the "children" – as they were called, despite three of them being adults – might be. She had no idea.

"Come on," Phoenix said finally. He led them home. Everyone had supper in their rooms that day. Phoenix watched an old movie that he'd seen a million times before when he was still the proud owner of an attorney's badge. Trucy stole Apollo's laptop and learnt everything there was to know about Edgeworth's past. Edgeworth flicked through an old photo album from when he was nine. Maya tossed and turned in her bed, thinking about responsibilities. None of the four got any sleep that night.


	39. Finally, Some Fun

DISCLAIMER: This soap opera story is gradually coming to a close. This chapter is the beginning of the last day of Phoenix's Kurain holiday, thought there will be a chapter or two after they've left. Oh, it's so sad. Never mind! Ace Attorney belongs to Capcom, sport belongs to…Greece (Olympic, I don't know) and this amazing story is officially dedicated to the awesome people who review it.

Everyone looked bored. The week had pretty much been a disaster, and the day before had been the worst. They had brightened up a little since – it was a sunny day, and weather affects the personality – but it wasn't perfect. But then, nothing was.

Miles sat on a table in front of them, holding the rota and wishing he was somewhere else. He slipped his reading glasses on. He hated them, and hadn't always needed them. But he wasn't getting any younger and lately they had become and irritating necessity.

"So," he announced, "This morning we're…who wrote this up?" He looked around. No-one responded until Maya nudged Larry, jogging his memory.

"Oh yeah! I did, but I got it from some magazine and can't remember what I put. Maya emailed me as soon as you turned up, Nick, so I made a rota. It was a pretty random thing to do, now I think about it."

Miles tutted and shook his head. He had spent most of his life disapproving of Larry. This was nothing new.

"Well, in that case, today is sports day." Trucy jumped up squealing and danced around the room. Bikini laughed. Iris looked pleasantly surprised. Larry looked distracted. Pearl joined Trucy. Maya giggled. All colour drained from Phoenix's face.

"So, how should we organise this?" Maya asked as she got a pencil and some Kurian notepaper from a decorative wooden cupboard.

"Well, we need teams," Pearl answered, skipping over, arm-in-arm with Trucy.

"What about the puppet show teams?" Trucy suggested, "Then I can go with Uncle Edgey again. That was so much fun!"

"Good idea," Phoenix said as eh joined them on the table. "What about the activities?"

"I'll do those," Edgeworth said, "They'll be done in an hour."


	40. Guess Who, Pal

WARNING, THE NEXT PARAGRAPH CONTAINS **LOGIC**. Damn, my internet's down. I'll have to put this tomorrow – though if you're reading this, it most likely not tomorrow but today, or some time after today, which will therefore be yesterday or sometime yesterday. Oh damn, I'll have to post this chapter sometime before yesterday. And I don't own Ace Attorney.

Bikini had been taken over with another sudden headache and took to her room. Maya immediately grabbed the phone and, twenty minutes later, she found herself at the train station.

"Glad you could make it."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world, pal."

"What are we going to _do_, Uncle Edgey? Bikini's been taken ill, and now we're just two!" Trucy screamed into a pillow as Edgeworth wrote out a list of events in his perfect, swooping handwriting. His jacket hung on the back of his chair, and with his rolled up sleeves and reading glasses perched on the end of his nose, he looked like a professor of some sort.

"Now, Trucy, you heard Maya. She said not to worry – it's _sorted_. And I trust Maya. She's one of the few dependable people I know."

"What about Daddy?" She picked up and egg and stared at it bleakly.

"I wouldn't call him dependable, Trucy. You know him as well as I do."

"I see your point. But when will she get back?"

The door slammed open dramatically, smashing into the wall at top speed and leaving a mark. The person standing behind the door, now hanging off its hinges, turned a pinkish red and scratched the back of his neck.

"I'd better go fix that, pal…"

Phoenix stared at his reflection in the lake. It was perfectly still, just like a mirror, and it wasn't the first time he'd spent hours staring at it. He wasn't vain, just surprised. As he stared at it now, he was more surprised than ever. The last time he'd stared at this lake had been seven years ago…

_"Hey, Nick! Come on! It's my last day of freedom, and I'm leaving the bachelor world in style!"_not_ a bachelor because you are not a man."_He stared at the sheet of reflection and realised that this time the lake was telling him his future. He saw a guy in a beanie hat: sad eyes, worried face and greying hair. He wasn't getting any younger. And around the man – nothing. No-one. Just him. The vision suddenly disappeared as ripples broke it to pieces.

"Maya, let's get this straight. This is not your last day of freedom; you're going to be back at Wright & Co within a month. Also, you are

"What's a bachelor?"

"Never mind. Where are you dragging me this time?"

"The lake! If you look at it, you can see your future. It's epic!"

"Epic? Did you learn that on those forums?"

"…yeah."

"See – isn't it cool? Can you see your future, Nick?"

"No. All I can see is me and you."

"Oh. I guess it doesn't work then.

"I guess."

"Now look what you've done! My channelling uniform is sopping wet!"

"Sorry, pal – take my hand, I'll get you out of the lake."

Phoenix laughed silently without looking up. Maya had a habit of accidently changing the future.


	41. Court Of Sport

DISCLAIMER: As you slowly turn round the bend,

The story gradu'lly comes to an end…

They sat in a circle – as usual – sipping drinks. Tea for Edgeworth, hot chocolate for all of the girls and Larry and coffee for the others. Gumshoe was telling everyone about his reign as Chief Detective – you could hear the capital letters – as Edgeworth made the finishing touches to the schedule.

"Thank you, detective, that's enough testimony for now." Phoenix rolled his eyes. Some things never change. "The schedule is finished. Two activities before lunch, four after. Wright, add that to the court record."

"Consider it added."

"Good. Now, the first activity is a classic demanded by Trucy; the egg and spoon race. The prosecution will now present said egg and spoon to the court."

"Objection! This egg is cracked!"

Trucy opened her mouth to speak – she was the defence's aide, it was her job to help out. But, before she could, Maya took over.

"Nice on, Nick! So, how do you explain _that_, prosecutor?"

"We have other eggs, of course."

"Hold it! I didn't ask if you had other eggs, Mr Edgeworth. The defence demands to know how this egg got cracked!"

"Your honour, this line of questioning is pointless!"

"Over-ruled!" Pearl decided, slamming a fist on the floor. "The prosecution will explain."

Edgeworth sighed and shook his head. "Very well. The prosecution calls Detective Gumshoe to the stand."

"Name and profession, please."

"I'm Dick Gumshoe, the Chief Detective down at the precinct." He grinned with pride at the word chief.

"Please tell us the details of the crime, detective."

****

Details of the Crime

****

_Mr Edgeworth and Trucy were writing up the details of the crime... I mean, sports day, when Maya and I burst through the door. _

"Hold it! Why did you burst through the door?"

"I was trying to make and entrance – but I sort of damaged the wall a little. And the door. Sorry, pal."

"I'll let you off this time, detective," Edgeworth interrupted, "But next time an incident like this occurs, your pay cheque is getting cut in half."

"I'm the Chief Detective, Mr Edgeworth. You don't control my pay cheque."

"…Oh. Just carry on with the testimony."

_Poor Edgeworth_, Phoenix thought, _it must be hard to be told he can't do something he loved so much. I know how he feels._"Hold it! I don't remember this trial having a defendant!"

**In shock, the defendant – Trucy – dropped the egg she was holding.**

"You're a defence attorney, are you not?"

"Actually, no, I'm not."

"Oh – sorry, Wright, I forgot that. Well, she's your defendant."

**_We have decisive evidence against the defendant too! Fingerprints on the egg shell_"Hold it! How did you find this out?"**.

"Allow me to explain, your honour. After the incident occurred, I used some of the fingerprint powder that an old friend gave to me. The fingerprints that showed up were indeed those belonging to the defendant."

"Nick!" Maya whispered, "What should we do?"

_Hmm…what should we do? Leave it there, or press further?_"Hold it! Your honour, the defence requests to test the egg shell also."

"Objection! Your honour, that is completely unnecessary."

"Objection! That's a lie – Edgeworth, you're hiding something."

"Objection! That's baseless conjecture!"

"Objection! Your honour, I'll give you candy if you let me test that egg shell."

"I've made my decision," Pearl announced, "The defence may test the egg shell on one condition – he hands over the candy first." Phoenix through a lollipop at her and she caught it with ease. He smiled, wishing he'd thought of trying that all of those years ago in court.

"Court is in recess for five minutes while the defence tests the egg shell and I eat my lollipop."

Maya shooed everyone out the room. They stood in the kitchen listening to Gumshoe's story about how he once convicted a guy on account that his beard was too long – Edgeworth nodded along, pretending he didn't know it was a lie. Finally, Maya called them back into the main hall.

The witness stand, the judge's seat, the defence bench, the prosecution bench: all of it, built out of cushions. Larry and Iris sat either side of Trucy on cushions by the side, making sure her blue-tac handcuffs didn't snap. Apollo stood by the door as a court bailiff.

Edgeworth sighed, seeing Phoenix's smug grin.

"Well, your honour, the defence has made quite a discovery. Indeed, Trucy's fingerprints were on the egg shell, but they were not alone. Another set of fingerprints were on the egg – those belonging to _Detective Dick Gumshoe_. How do you explain that, detective?"

"Nice one, Nick! Keep going, you're almost there." Phoenix smiled and gave his aide a thumbs-up. Of all of the assistants and aides he'd had, Maya was by far the best.

"I…er…well, you see, pal-"

"And one other thing, detective. Though this is uncustomary of most spiritual villages, Kurain's main hall has a CCTV camera in the corner of the room. This is because of some unfortunate incidents that have occurred here – one that at least three of us will remember vividly." Pearl and Maya nodded.

"W-what of it?" Edgeworth stuttered, slamming the desk, his face turning the colour of his suit.

"The defence would now ask the court to turn its eyes to this laptop." He flicked a button on Apollo's red laptop and a picture appeared on the screen. He pressed another button and the video began to play. Yes, Phoenix was very proud of his IT skills.

The video showed Trucy and Edgeworth sitting in the hall. Edgeworth was writing, Trucy staring at an egg she was holding. Suddenly, Gumshoe burst through the door, Maya in close pursuit. Edgeworth and Trucy barely reacted. The four sat down together in conversation until Maya and Edgeworth went to see if they could find something for the sports day.

Trucy and Gumshoe, alone in the room, started talking about the egg. Trucy handed it to Gumshoe, who immediately dropped it. The last thing the viewers saw was Gumshoe pleading to Trucy not to tell anyone and then the video was switched off by Phoenix's amazing IT skills.

"The defence rests its case."

"Well then," Pearl announced, "I think it's time for my verdict. This court finds the defendant, Trucy Wright-"

"Objection! Your honour, I'll give you ten times as much candy then Wright could ever give you!"

"-Guilty. Court is adjourned. Mr Edgeworth, hand over the candy." Edgeworth handed over a bag of candy that he had collected in the recess.

"Wow," Maya muttered, "Pearly's morals have seriously lowered in the past seven years."

Edgeworth than announced that he was sick of the egg and spoon race and decided to go on to the next event. Trucy smiled that evil smile at Apollo.


	42. Chords Of Steel Strike Again

DISCLAIMER: Still don't own Ace Attorney… Sorry this is so late, people, but I've been pretty busy lately.

They gathered around aimlessly in one of the larger courtyards of Kurain. It was cold, and everyone was wrapped up warm. Apollo fiddled with his red scarf. He was still worried about that evil grin of Trucy's.

Edgeworth, the only one missing from the group other than Bikini, returned with some sort of stopwatch in his magenta-gloved hand. Trucy ran up to him and pulled him into a bear hug; he nearly toppled over with the impact. You'd have thought they hadn't seen each other in ten years. The length of time they had been apart was in fact ten minutes.

"Uncle Edgey! It's so cold! Do you think it's going to snow?"

Had it been but Trucy, Edgeworth would have narrowed his eyes and said simply, "No." However, Trucy was different. He looked nervous and assured her that it _might_ snow, if she was lucky. In fact, he was positive that she didn't have a hope of snow.

_I guess this is what they mean by "fatherly feelings," _Edgeworth thought.

"Hey, Edgey, what's that thingamabob?" Larry jogged over. Edgeworth shielded his eyes at the sight of the bright-orange knee-length leather coat. It would have been OK had it not been florescent orange.

"This? It measures sound, and we're going to need it for the next activity."

"W-What is the next activity?" Apollo asked timidly, joining the others.

Edgeworth opened his mouth to reply, but Trucy held out her hand to stop him. She cleared her throat and closed her eyes, positioning herself as if she were about to sing. The sound that came out of her mouth was not quite so melodic.

"**CHORDS OF STEEL!!**" she bellowed. Everyone recoiled, apart from Apollo and Phoenix. The Wright Anything Agency had such levels of volume echoing off everyday.

A few minutes later, everyone was lined up to be tested. Edgeworth would be measuring their volume. He was not joining in for, "medical purposes," which according to Phoenix had something to do with yelling at Larry too much as a child.

Iris tried her best, but her soft voice didn't get a score worth looking at. She muttered something about Dolly doing better, and Miles moved on to Larry.

Larry was loud – there was no denying that – but a lot of that was screeching. Miles ignored Larry's complaining about how the stupid machine was broken and moved onto Phoenix.

Seven years ago, Phoenix could yell objection better than any expert. These days, he was too calm to care. His score wasn't much more than Iris's. Edgeworth smiled slightly. His old friend was just giving the next generation a chance.

Pearl was giggling too much to get a very good score. No-one was quite sure why.

Her partner-in-crime came straight afterwards, getting the highest score so far. Maya was the Master of Kurain, and it was her job to _not_ be loud. Glancing at her score, she said she'd have done much better if she'd been angry.

Finally, Edgeworth approached Apollo. The red-clad attorney was shaking with nerves and cold. He shrank back as he saw the device in Edgeworth's hand. _Poor boy_, Edgeworth thought, _there's no way he can win this_.

How wrong he was.

Ten minutes later, the group was huddled in the main hall. Iris sipped a hot cup of green tea. She was still recovering from the shock.

"Well," Edgeworth said, standing up. "I think we can safely say that Apollo won that one. I would tell you his score, but I've lost all of the measurements. The device broke when our winner yelled Objection – an event I hope will not be repeating itself in the near future."

"Right," Trucy said, joining Edgeworth by the chalkboard he was about to write on. "This is a record of the scores. Polly, we would be about to put a tick by your name. Unfortunately, you've been disqualified from this competition for traumatising Iris and breaking the equipment. Because _someone_ lost the scores for us – mentioning no names, Polly – no-one won this."

Apollo shrugged. Fair's fair.


	43. Perfection By Internet Link Up

DISCLAIMER: Gah! Sorry I've been gone so long; I've been suffering from serious writers' block, and I've been really busy too. Despite being gone for so long, I still don't own Ace Attorney. I'm working on it, though… Yeah, enjoy the chapter anyway.

Laughter and a few random cheers filled the room. The clinking of champagne glasses could be heard, though of course, they were only filled with lemonade. Jokes were told, happy days remembered. Phoenix had a few embarrassing childhood tales about Edgeworth, Edgeworth had some about him. Cases were retold, as were the parties that followed them. Everyone was enjoying themselves so much that no-one even noticed the fact that they were eating Bikini's stew again.

Half-way through the lunch, Edgeworth left the table to see to a call on his mobile. He returned five minutes later with a laptop which he set up on the end of the table without a word. He flicked a few switches and an image appeared on the other end.

"All the way from Germany," he stated, standing by the laptop so that everyone could see it.

From the small section of the office that could be seen on the screen of the laptop, Phoenix could tell that it was grand and stylish. German and English law books covered the wall apart from a glass case in the middle, exhibiting a long given-up whip.

"Phoenix Wright," said a well known voice, "It's been a very long time."

"Seven years," Phoenix laughed. "So, how have you been?"

"Everything is going perfectly – though I understand this is not the case for you."

"No. I made a few mistakes."

"A few very foolish mistakes. And my little brother mentioned a daughter?"

"Trucy. Don't worry, she's adopted."

"I have a daughter. She is five years old. Her name is Anna."

"What a beautiful name."

"She's going to be a prosecutor."

"I guessed."

"I must be going now. I have a case in ten minutes. I will win it without a doubt. It's against a rookie. He will be crushed when he meets a Von Karma."

"That's what they said about me."

"You were a special case. Goodbye, Phoenix Wright."

"Goodbye, Franziska."

The screen went blank. Edgeworth turned the laptop off and sat down. Everyone was silent until Maya, ever the gossip, slammed the table and demanded that Edgeworth tell her every little detail about Franziska's love life.


	44. The First Drop Of Rain

_DISCLAIMER:__** I own Phoenix's soul!!**_ _I do not, however, own his game series or the characters in it. I don't own the Bunny Suicides series either, no matter how awesome it is. And this is a very silly chapter with a sentence of something that could be viewed as Maya/Nick is you squinted as hard as Pearl does when looking for her pairing evidence._

With the first drop of rain, Edgeworth flicked over a page in his notebook. There was yet another list, this list being a list of rainy-day activities. He and Trucy sat in the corner muttering in hushed voices for a few minutes, until Trucy finally screamed, "High five, Uncle Edgey!" and they returned to the group.

Phoenix, Larry, Iris, Maya, Pearl, Apollo and Bikini looked on helpless as Trucy and Edgeworth set up three foldable tables with two chairs either side. One had a pyramid of glasses and three bottles of water on it, the other two were empty.

They started with the staring contests.

Larry went into a sulk when beaten by Maya, who in turn went into a sulk when beaten by Pearl. Pearl also beat Apollo, who easily beat Iris and beat Trucy without even trying because she was laughing so much that she blinked within three seconds. When also beaten, Bikini blamed old age. Finally, it was him against Edgeworth.

That stare. He didn't need to hold it long; it was enough to crush his opponent in twenty seconds. He'd been taught how to use it by Manfred von Karma, and it had won him countless guilty verdicts against weak defence attorneys. Within a minute, Apollo Justice was a broken man.

They returned to the room ten minutes later without Apollo, who was resting in bed. The next activity was the laughing contest. Trucy went first and once again lasted two seconds against Maya. Maya in turn lasted only ten seconds before losing to Phoenix, who offered to disqualify himself and let her continue through the tournament. Maya, still laughing, refused, and Phoenix beat Larry with just as much ease. Pearl didn't even last the countdown, and Bikini only needed to glance at the hat and remember the smart young man she had met so long ago to burst into a laughing fit. Finally, it was him against Edgeworth.

"This is unfair," Phoenix complained, "Edgeworth has never laughed in his life!"

"He laughed that day you were off school because you fell into a pond and got a cold. He said it was the funniest thing he'd heard in his life!"

"You did?"

"What of it, Wright?"

The contest went on despite Phoenix's protests. It was an epic battle between two old school friends – Pearl suggested that it was perhaps even more exciting than their epic battles in the courtroom. Finally, after twenty minutes of watching two people stare at each other, the others got bored and demanded that Larry make one of them laugh.

He pulled faces, told jokes, and did everything he could do to bring out the funny side of life for the two stern competitors sitting in front of him. Finally, he had no choice but to do the one thing he knew would always work.

"Bunny toasters," he said.

Immediately, Phoenix was roaring with laughter. It took another few seconds for Miles to kick in, and by the time he did, the damage was done. Phoenix had lost. Edgeworth reigned victorious.

Afterwards, Maya asked Larry how he had done it.

"They were always mad about the Bunny Suicides," he replied simply.

The next activity on Edgeworth's tidy little list was the drinking contest. At the mention of a drinking contest, the father in Phoenix burst out and demanded to know what the hell Edgeworth was thinking. His magenta clad friend assured him that the drink in question would be water. Phoenix hereby calmed down.

Both Trucy and Pearl were slow drinkers, but Trucy was faster than Pearl by only a second. Trucy also beat her father, who had never won such a contest in his life, but she lost to Maya. Maya in turn lost to Bikini, who beat Iris. Larry drank his glass in roughly one second, having been doing this for years. Finally, it was him against Edgeworth.

"Damn!" Larry yelled. Trucy stared at her father quizzically, and he explained that Edgeworth and Larry had been the drinking-contest champions when they were nine. Edgeworth seemed to have many hidden talents.

After glass after glass after glass after glass, Larry was starting to feel sick. He'd never had much stomach for liquids of any kind, be they alcoholic or not. Edgeworth was also feeling a little nauseous, but was determined not to show it.

The last of the water was poured into the glasses. Phoenix counted down, just as they had nearly twenty years ago.

"Three…two…one!" In less than a second, the water was gone. Larry didn't even wait for someone to announce that Edgeworth had won before running to the bathroom to throw up. Edgeworth soon followed.

__

Notes of epic awesomeness:

The bunny thing is a true story. If you say the words, "Bunny Suicide," to one of my friends, she won't stop laughing for about ten minutes. It's the same if you say the word, "visor," to me, as one unfortunate person found out a week ago. When she asked why I was laughing so much, I started the sentence with, "Godot," and everyone in the room who knew immediately screamed, "Shut up!" Ah, happy days.

As for the drinking-a-glass-of-water-in-less-than-a-second, it can be done! I've seen it done by two of my friends. But don't do it. It's not good for you.


	45. On The Other Hand

_DISCLAIMER: Sorry this is so late. I've been getting treatment in the form of sugar for my severe case of Writer's Block. I don't own anything. Have a happy whatever-day-you're-reading-this and enjoy the story._

The rain was starting to clear up, so Edgeworth lead the others down to a small bridge over a fast-flowing stream while Trucy ran back to the main hall to grab a 'sack full of fun,' as she liked to call it.

Pearl dragged the now recovered Apollo away to stare at a place where a rabbit might be but wasn't while Larry and Iris stared at a tree in nervous silence. Bikini and Edgeworth discussed the moral decrease in the youth of today, and Gumshoe stood with them nodding. He had arrived back after getting stuck in a shed for the previous event. He was now upset that no-one had actually noticed.

With Trucy gone, Phoenix and Maya found themselves standing on the bridge. They didn't look at each other or speak. There was nothing to say anymore.

Out of the corner of his eye, Phoenix could see the refined Master of Kurain standing perfectly upright, staring out across the water with a mystical look in her eye. Out of the corner of his mind, he could see Maya, doubled over laughing at something Pearl had just said, begging for a burger and getting one every time.

_People change._

Out of the corner of her eye, Maya could see a talentless pianist with no fashion sense and not a moral to call his own. Out of the corner of her mind, she could see Phoenix, standing there watching her with hands-on-hips and that false disappointed look on his face, then bursting out into hysterics and buying her a burger.

_People change._

"I've got them, Uncle Edgey!"

"Hand them out, then."

"Ten ducks of every colour," Trucy chanted under her breath as she gave every person a duck, "Ten ducks all made of rubber." Phoenix rolled his eyes.

The bridge was only large enough to hold five people at one time. Trucy, Apollo, Gumshoe, Maya and Bikini were first up. Bikini's duck got stuck within the first ten seconds, Apollo's running into it and getting stuck as well. Gumshoe's managed to reach dry land, but it was the wrong bit of dry land, and no-one was quite sure what happened to Trucy's.

The remaining five – Phoenix, Pearl, Iris, Larry and Edgeworth – took their places on the bridge. The countdown rang out and the ducks were dropped in a few moments of silence. As they hit the water, cheering and yelling immediately resumed.

Iris's and Larry's ducks slowed down and hit rocks quite quickly, Pearl's getting stuck soon after. Edgeworth's and Phoenix's ducks went on right to the end, Phoenix just beating Edgeworth by seconds.

Phoenix and Maya reigned victorious. They stood on the bridge, prepared for their battle. Pearl grasped Apollo's hand, making the poor boy turn bright red. Larry counted down from ten to make it all more dramatic.

"Ten…"

"Prepare to lose, Nick."

"Nine…"

"You're probably right. I've learnt the art of losing from being a father."

"Eight…"

"Remember at Pearly's ninth birthday party? We did this then as well."

"Seven…"

"We were on a team together then. Not enough rubber ducks."

"Six…"

"Crazy that we're against each other now."

"Five…"

"True. We might as well be against each other in court."

"Four…"

"That's a strange thought."

"Three…"

"Everything's strange these days. It's just not worth it anymore."

"Two…"

"Stop!" Maya yelled, running back to join the group, shoving a startled Larry out of the way – he looked upset that he couldn't finish his countdown, and would undoubtedly make Phoenix pay for it later. "We've decided on a tie. So we're not going to do this last race. We both won."

_On the other hand, not all people change._


	46. Remember That Time

DISCLAIMER: I have no time anymore! I'm so sorry – when I said updates would be less frequent, I never imagined they would be this slow… Despite all the time that has passed, this story's still going – yet I still don't own Ace Attorney. Life's tough. This is another silly chapter. Enjoy!

Iris, Bikini, Trucy, Pearl and Maya immediately fell into girlish conversation, leaving Apollo to sit in the corner looking embarrassed. He crossed his fingers that the others would come back soon.

At the end of the previous activity, Larry had grabbed Edgeworth and Phoenix and dragged the to the shining black sports car nearby. Shoving Edgeworth into the driving seat and Phoenix in the back, he had announced that they were going to get the equipment for the next activity – which he had apparently changed at the last minute – and the three men disappeared down the long winding road to civilisation.

Apollo closed his mind to the girly gossip and awaited the return of masculinity.

Then he remembered the magenta suit, the high pitched giggle and the shy personality and realised that he didn't have a chance.

The car journey was silent until they were well away from Kurain. And then the drama began.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US?!"

"Tell you what?"

"ABOUT HER!!"

"About who?"

"ABOUT MAYA!!"

"What about her?"

Larry screamed and buried his head in the folded orange duffel coat on his lap. Edgeworth rolled his eyes and carried on driving.

"Larry, you've got the wrong end of the stick – as always. Maya was my assistant seven years ago. We're good friends and always will be. End of delusion, agreed?"

"Nick," Larry said, calming down, "Do you remember that time Edgey was constantly hanging around with that Penelope girl? You remember, the one with the weird hair? A whole month wasted without us."

"I remember," Phoenix replied with a chuckle, "One lunch time you were missing him so much you cried."

"Who's telling the story here?!"

"Carry on."

"Anyway, one day we calmly pulled him aside-"

"I don't call gagging someone and tying them to a lamppost until they admit a lie 'calmly pulling them aside'," Edgeworth interrupted. Larry's eyes narrowed, but he decided to ignore the interjection.

"We calmly pulled him aside to ask him about it. And he said they were just friends."

"Despite you threatening to release his "deepest darkest secret" to the press."

"Well, yeah…"

"What was that secret, Larry?"

"Butz, if you dare, I will use your intestines as a washing line."

"I had a sleepover at his house and he started sleep talking about our geography teacher."

The car screeched to a halt, sliding off the road and nearly hitting a tree. Phoenix, having had years of experience, lunged over and pulled back on Edgeworth's seatbelt, giving Larry time to climb out of the car and get out of the madman's way until he calmed down.

Unfortunately, they were now stuck in a mixture of various types of shrubbery in the middle of somewhere-that-no-one-cared-about. Also known as nowhere.


	47. Take Care

**DISCLAIMER:** _Every night in my dreams the Capcom logo haunts me, mocks me. That smug little logo… "Demon…Demon…Who owns Ace Attorney? Not you, Demon! Not you, but I, Capcom!" Then it laughs that contemptuous laugh, and I wake up in tears…_

"Mystic Maya, where are Mr Nick, Mr Edgeworth and Mr Laurice? They should be back by now."

"I'm not quite sure, Pearly. Why don't you and the others go and bake some cookies in the kitchen and I'll phone Nick, OK?"

"Alright then." She and the others made their way to the kitchen where they started arguing about cookie recipes. As quick thinking as Maya was, her ideas did tend to stray to the slightly random side.

Being the Master of Kurain involved more meditating and pursuing inner peace than answering calls. Though Maya didn't have the exact same mobile phone as she did seven years ago, she was still on the one straight after it. Her collector's Steel Samurai band still hung proudly from the phone. It wasn't for the Steel Samurai that it still wore the band, nor for the collector's value. It was for the memories. Everything was for the memories.

The buttons were stiff from lack of use, but Maya knew the number well. With luck, Phoenix wouldn't have bothered to change his number. And he hadn't.

"Hello, Phoenix Wright speaking."

"Hey Nick! Where are you?"

"That's a damn good question – and one I wish I knew the answer to."

"Please don't tell me you're lost."

"You'd better believe it. Edgeworth drove off the road into a bush of some kind. We knew where we were, but then Larry managed to drop the map down a rabbit hole."

"Can't you get it back?"

"Funny you should say that, seeing as Edgeworth is now trying to get Larry's head out of the rabbit hole. No, wait, he's stopped. He's saying that Larry's not even worth it."

"Can't you find someone to help you out."

"No, there's no-one aro- Hold on! There's a motorbike coming up. I'll call you back, Maya."

"Take care, Nick."

"Will do." A long beeping noise informed her that the line was cut. She lowered the phone from her ear and pressed the red button.

_Take care, Nick._

* * *

Phoenix ran into the middle of the road and waved his arms. The light from the headlights made him squint, and the mix of the brightness and the rain blinded him. It was getting darker now.

"Need a hand there?" It was the voice of a woman, perhaps in her thirties or forties. It was a voice she recognised.

"Desiree DeLite?"

"Phoenix Wright?"

* * *

The cookies were in the oven. Pearl, Trucy and Apollo sat in the corner watching Maya stare wistfully out of the window into the dark and drizzly night.

"She's miles away," Trucy whispered.

"She's with Mr Nick," Pearl replied with a wistful smile.

"They're so perfect together, but they just don't realise it."

"What should we do?"

"We need a plan."

"Hold on there," Apollo interrupted, "We do _not_ need a plan. The world can work perfectly well without you sticking your nose in, Trucy."

"Can Pearl carry out the plan, then?"

"That's different."

"Why?"

"Trucy," Pearl began.

"It's because you're in _lurve_!"

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is."

"Is not."

"Is too."

Maya glanced over from the window. This could take a long time.

* * *

Desiree fixed the car quickly and then helped the three men drag Larry out of the rabbit hole. They all sheltered from the torrential rain in the car.

"You know, when it rains, it means that the angels are having a drinking contest."

"That's nice, Larry."

"I read it on the internet."

Ten minutes in the car was enough to share seven years worth of update. Edgeworth looked irritated for most of it, partly because he wanted to get back and partly because he had no idea who the new comers were. The woman had shoulder length brown hair and wore red leathers. She had a bright smile and a cheery laugh. Her husband was … different.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye. Everyone returned to the correct vehicle and went their separate ways along the flooded road.

* * *

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too."

Maya still stared out of the window, pointless though it was. The rain hammered down on the window and, with the help of the dark night sky, obscured her view.

_Take care, Nick._


	48. Flooded Battlefields

**DISCLAIMER:** _It's all gone so quickly! Only about three more chapters after this one, with another extra to announce the competition results – there's still time to enter! And despite us drawing to the end of this story, I still don't own Ace Attorney. Damn you, Capcom, for being so awesome. Oh, and I'm really sorry that I keep forgetting Gumshoe and have to make up excuses for him not being there._

It was only eight, but the sky was already dark with the help of a thunder storm. Phoenix, Larry and Edgeworth ran through the virtually-flooded road that wound through Kurain Village. Larry kicked water at Edgeworth, who did not look impressed.

Maya waited at the door, sheltered from the downpour by the over hanging roof. She stepped aside to allow the three vessels of rainwater into the house, quickly slamming the door behind them. She hung their jackets from a shelf, there being no radiators in Kurain.

The others sat in a circle one the floor in the main hall. The floor was cold so pillows and cushions had been provided, and the group quickly made room for the newcomers. Gumshoe had returned, having gotten stuck in the crossfire between two territorial sparrows. Everyone pretended they had noticed he was gone.

After three trays of cookies and seven games of happy families, the Fey and Wright families were not so happy. There was some serious rivalry between Phoenix and Trucy, Iris and Maya were slaughtering each other with venomous courtesy, and Pearl and Bikini looked ready to strangle each other. Edgeworth thought fast and suggested that, seeing as the rain had stopped, they go outside.

As they stepped outside, he immediately regretted it. Though no rain was falling from the sky, the ground was still an inch deep in water. However, Trucy and Pearl didn't seem to be bothered as they started splashing each other.

"Trucy, stop, you'll catch a cold," Phoenix said unenthusiastically. His monotone voice showed that he knew that Trucy had no intention of listening to him what so ever.

Soon Trucy called an end to the excitement, much to the relief of everyone else – however, their relief was short-lived. She separated them into groups of five. The first was Phoenix, Pearl, Larry, Iris and Gumshoe; the second, Trucy, Apollo, Maya, Edgeworth and Bikini. After a pep talk each team spread out, armed with an empty cup.

The inability to see may have seemed to most logical people as a health and safety risk, as would the slippery mud beneath their feet. To Trucy, on the other hand, it added to the fun.

Thirty minutes later she was shivering in a corner with Apollo, both plastered with mud and war paint. They were trying to avoid Gumshoe, who had managed to get hold of a hosepipe and was now patrolling Kurain with a wild look in his eye.

On the other side of the camp, Phoenix and Maya were fighting over the only bucket they could find. Both of them were completely drenched by now and soon they were keeled over laughing a puddle.

Somewhere in the middle of this mayhem, Edgeworth was enjoying a cup of tea with Pearl and Bikini in a tent. After an hour he blew a whistle and they were joined by seven others, all crusted with dry mud and cackling with gleeful laughter. They made their way indoors where they fought over the one shower. When everyone was in their pyjamas, they all relaxed in the main hall, preparing for some calm.

Then Larry got hold of ten feather pillows.

War broke out, the teams returning. When Edgeworth refused to take part, he found himself smothered by nine pillows.

The battled raged till three a.m. when Larry declared that he could go on no longer. One by one they made their way to bed until only Trucy and Phoenix were left.

"You should be getting to bed, Trucy-doll."

"You too, Daddy. It's well past your bedtime."

"I'll stay up for a little longer. Our last night – I've got a few memories to catch up with."

"What's the point of memories when they can't be shared?"


	49. Irresponsible

**DISCLAIMER:** _Though I dream about owning Ace Attorney, I still do not. That privilege belongs to the jammy yet genius people at Capcom._

It was cold, and underneath her blue Mac Trucy had only her pyjamas. Under her slip in trainers she wore no socks, and no hat, scarf or pair of gloves was anyway to be seen. It was half past three in the morning and as they walked along the sopping-wet road of Kurain Village, Phoenix considered how responsible a parent he was. Trucy put food on the table. Trucy tidied up the house. Trucy looked after him, kept him company in what would be an otherwise empty flat. Oh well. We get on well enough.

Don't we?

They walked on in silence until Phoenix stopped in the middle of the road.

"This is where I first met Pearls. She was an eight-year-old girl then, sheltered from the world and its technology. She wouldn't speak to me for a while." He gave her a weak, watery smile, but she could see he was miles away.

The tour continued. Stories of parties and picnics and her Daddy's deeds made her laugh out loud and blush from embarrassment. He had quite the life back then.

"And this is the Channelling Chamber. I'm sure Maya won't mind me coming in for a visit." He opened the door slowly, trying to silence the creak.

"What's this room for?"

"The spirit channelling itself – and murder, as I discovered on my first visit here. I notice that the still have that blasted screen here. Take a good luck at that screen, Trucy. It saved an innocent teenager from a guilty verdict she didn't deserve."

"One of your cases?"

"Yep. And one I certainly don't miss."

"Who was your client?"

"The Master of Kurain herself – though then she was just Maya Fey, a chirpy and incredibly annoying medium-in-training."

"You mean you actually defended the Master of Kurain?!?"

"Twice. And the rest of the time she was either following me around or causing me great stress by getting kidnapped or possessed by the spirit of my ex."

"Burn."

"Butn methaphorically or burn as in jumping-off-a-burning-bridge-burn? Because I can tell you about both."

Finally, at five a.m., they decided to hit the hay. Five hours of sleep, and they rose again for the journey home.


	50. From Home To Home

DISCLAIMER: Guess what! You'll never guess. Go on, have a guess. I'll give you three goes. Give up? OK, I'll tell you._ I don't own Ace Attorney!_

The chilly wind snuck through the gaps between the wool of his hat and nipped him on the ears. Phoenix was regretting climbing out of his warm, sanctuary-like bed that morning. Trucy looked tired too, but the colossal amount of maple syrup she'd put on her pancakes a few hours ago had given her enough energy for an all-day sugar rush.

He stood on the very edge of the platform, eager to leave the tasselled plait of past, present and future behind and get back to reality. The sound of goodbyes wafted from behind and shovelled him under a mountain of guilt and homesickness. He wasn't sure which home he was sick for – the one on the other end of this railway, or the one only a walk away?

The next day he would be back at work, pretending to be able to play the piano. He'd nearly learnt how to play the Steel Samurai theme tune off by heart. Trucy rolled her eyes every time the phone went off, and constantly reminded her father that no-one watched Steel Samurai anymore.

_She has no idea._

The train clattered into the tiny station and stopped with a gasp of relief. As soon as the door opened, Phoenix rushed to a seat and enveloped himself in his newspaper. He'd always run away from goodbyes, and today would be no exception to the rule.

He heard the others at the door, a mix of laughter and tears representing their parting with dramatic quality. He heard the girls exchange email addresses, Iris and Larry exchange phone numbers, and Edgeworth and Bikini exchange depressing predictions about the weather. He was just getting into an article about modern teenagers and how to deal with them when he was distracted by a sharp knock on the window.

_Open up_, Maya mouthed, pointing frantically at the window. Phoenix sighed and yanked the ice-covered window open, allowing a surge of frozen air in to contaminate the warmth of the train.

"Maya?"

"You were just going to disappear with even a goodbye? Where have your manners gone, Phoenix Earnest Wright?"

"How many times, Maya? My middle name is _not_ Earnest."

"Well, it should be. Anyway, answer the question."

"Goodbyes are like objections. They used to be fun, but then I had to move on and leave them in the courtroom along with my cash, my courtesy and my common sense."

"Don't be like this, Nick. Come on – at least say goodbye to Pearly!"

"She's not a child anymore, Maya, so stop talking about her like she is."

"She's still go the same ideas about everything that she did as a child." She laughed. "Remember the whole Mystic Maya and Mr Nick thing?"

"Oh yes. That's still going. She's made a club out of her delusion now."

"She would never shut up about that."

"Maybe we should have listened."

"Huh?"

Phoenix said a short, sharp goodbye as Mildred told him to shut up and close the window because they were leaving now. Maya tried writing on the window, but her protests went unnoticed. The train started moving, and even without the sparkling sandals holding her back, Maya could never have stopped it.

_**Notes:** Oh. That's it. It's over. Dream on!! We've got at least another three chapters. :D_


	51. The Glory Of Typos

_DISCLAIMER: I hate Writer's Block. But I've got it. Big time. So while I wait for a thunderbolt of inspiration, here's a filler. The next chapter is important, so I don't want to post any old rubbish. I can get away with that usually, but not this time. And I don't own Ace Attorney._

"Herr Forehead! Fraulein Trucy!" Klavier cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled up to the window. He'd been all around the building, but had not yet succeeded in finding the scarlet-clad attorney. His frustration paused for a moment as he turned to see what the sound behind him was. It turned out to be the slam of a car-door, said slammer being Ema Skye.

"What are you doing here?" she asked impatiently.

"Looking for Fraulein Trucy, or at least someone who can find her. She's borrowed my mobile and has yet to return it. I wouldn't mind, but I got the bill yesterday, and she's been making three long-distance calls a day, each lasting just over an hour. And you, Fraulein? What's a nice girl like you doing in a lawyer-ridden place like this?"

"I need to see Mr Wright. I've dug out a load of photos from the SL-9 after party."

"SL-9?"

"It was a case Mr Wright was on. Murder. Defendant being my sister. Not guilty verdict, of course."

"And then you threw a party?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Doesn't matter. Do you have any idea where they are?"

"There's usually a note under the mat. And a key in the front door. And really need to talk to Mr Wright about that."

Ema found the note and ripped it up in frustration. The crew of the Wright Anything Agency were on holiday and wouldn't be back until- The rest was covered by Mr Wright's credit card number, which he had scribbled down in case he forgot it.

"Herr Wright isn't one for safety, ja?"

"He used to be mad about it, especially at the party. "Don't put that in the lemonade, Ema." "Don't pour that on my suit, Ema." "Put the knife down, Ema, I'll cut the cake." He was so over-protective."

Klavier smiled. "Sounds like it was a great party. Can I see the photos?"

"They're on a DVD."

"We could watch them back at my place."

They stared at each other, a slight smirk on Klavier's face.

"I'll provide Snackoos."

"OK, just for ten minutes…"

_"What are you doing? Not that stupid fanfiction stuff again."  
"You bet."  
"What is it this time?"  
"Klema, the greatest pairing since Miego."  
"Everyone's sick of that."  
"Don't be stupid. Everyone loves shipping."_


	52. Second Option

DISCLAIMER: Late. Again. So busy. Tired. Cold coming on. Don't own Ace Attorney. Enjoy chapter.

__

Everything links up in my life. The past is always there, lurking. I find it difficult to look to the future while keeping one on the present and one eye on the past, just in case it's going to creep up behind me and stab me in the back. I've made so many friends, but with friends come enemies. I've walked a dangerous road, and the destination isn't butterflies and rainbows either.

"Daddy, what are you writing?"

"Nothing. A letter. It doesn't matter."

"What was that? Multiple choice? I choose the second option. Who's the letter to?"

"No-one. A friend. Listen, Trucy, it doesn't matter."

"Second option again. Can I read it?"

"No."

"What's the second option this time?"

"Go annoy, Edgeworth, Trucy."

"And the third option?"

Phoenix yelled some angry gibberish and tore up the letter. He stuffed most of the torn up pieces of paper in his hat and pulled it down over his eyes. He lay back in his chair and pretended to be asleep.

Trucy silently picked up the one escapee piece of paper. It as mostly a line of scribbled out attempts at the beginning of the letter, until the only clear word: "Maya." Sliding into the next car and shutting the door gently behind her, she contemplated the purpose of the letter. She could only think of one.

"Pearl," she said, "We have a problem. Or not. I don't know."

Pearl glanced up from the children's book she was struggling through and took the piece of paper from Pearl. She stared it for a few moments before gasping and covering her face with her hand in shock.

"Where is the rest of this?"

"In Daddy's hat."

"You must get it. Well will you next have access to … the hat?"

"Probably bedtime?"

"I'll visit tomorrow. We're at the station now. It's all up to you from here, Trucy."

_Author's Notes_

It was short, pointless, and badly written. What did you expect? :D


	53. Still Time

DISCLAIMER: This has taken so long you'll all have forgotten what this thing is. Well, this is it. The last chapter, apart from the competition results. As much as I long to, I still don't own Ace Attorney. I just wanted to say thanks to not only everyone who has reviewed this story, but everyone who has put the time aside to read it. You've made a few wasted hours seem worthwhile.

Phoenix flicked through the photo album. He'd flicked through it so many times over the past two weeks, barely sleeping, eating or anything but staring blankly at the glossy frozen memories glued wonkily by a nine year old monster with a Pritt-Stick. "Mr Nick and Mystic Maya" was scrawled over the pages in her virtually illegible hand.

It was like attempting to wake up on a dark winter's morning, knowing that the day would be filled with arduous tasks that, though necessary, seemed so much larger than they really were. He knew that when he put the book down the memories would slip through his fingertips, leaving only the ugly present he currently faced.

"What are you looking at?" he whispered to Charley. "Not impressed? Thought I would make more of myself than this? So did I."

"Daddy, why are you talking to a plant?" Trucy appeared at the door with two bowls of ravioli.

"Doesn't matter. What's that?"

"Ravioli. From the mountain of tins in the cupboard. It didn't have a label, so I took my chances. Enjoy."

"Thanks, Trucy-Doll. Hey, you know, I was once in line to run a pasta shop."

"Really? That's so cool! Tell me all about it."

"Well, there was this old guy at a boat rental store. He was a complete nut – or at least, that's what we thought. He said he ran a pasta shop, and that I was his son Keith and Maya was-"

He stopped. His forkful of ravioli came to mid-air halt between his bowl and his mouth. An awkward silence filled through the room. Father and daughter lost eye-contact.

A fortnight had passed since their departure from Kurain Village. Since then Phoenix had been always withdrawn, apart from when he was talking about his three years as a legend of law. Silences such as this had become a fairly common occurrence in the Wright household.

This particular silence was broken by the doorbell ringing. Trucy eagerly jumped up to answer it. Phoenix just turned back to his book.

"Oh! It's you! Daddy will be so happy to see you – quick, come in, it's cold out there."

The door was slammed and two figures bustled about hanging coats on pegs and giggling. Trucy showed the guest through to the main room, where Phoenix stared blankly at a picture of three strangers he once knew so well enjoying a long promised boat ride at Gourd Lake. He glanced up momentarily to see one grinning face from the photo reflected in the real world before him. Though slightly aged and with a weaker smile, Phoenix contemplated on how little Pearl Fey had changed.

"What are you doing here?"

"Mr Nick, that's very impolite."

"Sorry. Pearl, how wonderful to see you! What are you doing here?"

"Mr Nick, we need to talk." Pearl sat down on the sofa opposite him.

"If this is about Maya-"

"It's not. It's about me and my job. Ex-job. The shop has had to close due to lack of interest and so on."

Trucy gasped – "What are you going to do?" she inquired.

"Well, if you would have me, the few meagre talents I have might be of some use to the Wright Anything Agency. After all, I know the building well."

The two girls looked at Phoenix expectantly. He stared at the photo album as if in hope of it giving him some sort of answer. His inner von-Karma laughed – _As if a picture of the three of us standing by the scrawny overly-decorated Christmas Tree like an idealized family could make any difference._

_…_

"Welcome home, Pearls."

Both girls immediately went hyper, laughing and jumping up and down with excitement. Their celebrations were cut short by the doorbell, voicing its opinions for the second time in only a few minutes.

"I'll get it!" they both yelled. Phoenix smiled. Of course – seven years ago, the door had been Pearl's responsibility. Now it was Trucy's. It would be difficult to adjust.

"Oh! It's you!"

"Mr Nick will be so happy to see you."

"Quick, come in."

"It's cold out there."

The door was slammed again, and the hanging up of coats and scarves was re-executed. It was a little more complicated with three, but somehow they managed it.

"What's happened?" the hushed voice of Trucy asked behind the closed door.

"Kurain. I can't handle it anymore. I've handed it over." Phoenix jumped up from the sofa, but resisted bursting dramatically into the kitchen.

"What do you mean?" Pearl gasped. Phoenix, though he could not see her, just knew that she'd slammed her delicate little hand to her mouth in shock.

"There's a long list of rules when it comes to Masters of Kurain. I thought of so many ways of escaping my obligations, but there are only two valid escape routes. The first is death, which I've decided against. The second is the path my sister took: handing the title over to another capable person and leaving forever, never to return."

"Not even for visits?"

"Did Mia ever visit?"

"I guess not."

There was an awkward silence until Trucy raised the question that everyone was dying to ask.

"So what are you going to do?"

Maya sighed and stared at her sandaled feet.

"That was what I was thinking. I decided my only option was to come home – I don't have any talents, but if Nick's here for piano-playing then I'm sure I'll be able to make something up. If you'll have me, of course."

Trucy was about to answer when the door opened. There was an awkward silence as Maya and Phoenix stared at each other across the kitchen. Trucy noticed something different in her father. Normally he'd lean against the door frame as if he was too exhausted to support himself, but now he was standing upright, head held high, just like all those pictures of him in court.

"Welcome home, Maya."

_

* * *

_

The electric fire was on, creating a fake homely glow, and one of Phoenix's CDs that Trucy found so old played out hits from 2017. Trucy was performing with Mr Hat and Pearl and Apollo had gone to the Borscht Belt Club for a doomed first date. Maya glared at the cards in her hands as she was easily trashed by the seven-year poker champion.

"How the hell do you do this, Nick?"

"That would be telling."

She threw a handful of crisps at him, and a mini food fight ensued, until the food ran out and they were laughing too much to breathe. Finally Phoenix clustered enough calm to speak.

"So, how did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Get out of Kurain."

"I appointed a new Master, of course."

"That being?"

"Well, let's just say that the mediums are all enjoying their fair shares of stew."

They laughed again, and continued playing their game of poker. Maya was not yet a worth opponent for the seven-year champion, and it would take a while to teach her.

But there was still time.


	54. COMPETITION RESULTS

**Since everyone keeps asking, this chapter is COMPLETELY UNRELATED to the story. Think of it as the start of an unwritten case in AJ. I was in a rush and trying to think of something that would fit the song~**

_Ace Attorney belongs to Capcom. I Fought The Law Belongs to Sonny Curtis and the Crickets._

Hello everybody~ Demon here again. Nearly finished with this thing, just need to announce the competition results~

In first place…

Drum roll, please

AirDragon717 with I Fought The Law! This song fits Phoenix through and through. Though Greenday did do a cover of this song, it was originally recorded by Sonny Curtis and the Crickets – seriously, this song has so many covers you can barely find the original.

**Congratulations, AirDragon717~**

**This short story is your "prize" :**

_"Why did you do it, Wright?"_

_I shrugged and turned away. Here I was, once again, on the wrong side of the glass window. The Detention Centre – I'd spent so many days arguing with a difficult defendant refusing to talk. _

_"Was it you?"_

_Even I couldn't remember that. It was all so blurred. I was accused of armed robbery, but I couldn't remember a thing. All I knew was that the prosecution had evidence and a clear motive. Though I hadn't been told anything about the evidence other than the fact it existed, I had some idea of the motive._

_Trucy. Whatever I did or didn't do, it was for her. They wouldn't let her visit me, or maybe she just didn't want to come. _

_"Wright, talk to me."_

_"I miss Trucy," I muttered. _

_"Wright, that isn't helping your case. I hope you're telling your defence more than you are me."_

_"Why do you care anyway?"_

_"Something called friendship, Wright. Now please, talk."_

_"I needed money."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because I didn't have any." I'd have thought that was pretty obvious, even to the richest prosecutor on the planet._

_"So you-"_

_"I don't know what I did. I took a risk, tried to fight the law. Well, I lost. The law won. It always does."_

_Thanks to everyone else who entered – I loved every single entry. I wish I could write a short story for everyone, but I have neither the patience nor the time._

* * *

You think it's all over?

It is now~


End file.
